Lansley offers reassurance

After Gove, a minister whose agenda has gone less smoothly — and it showed. Andrew Lansley’s speech to Tory conference was part re-re-restatement of the case for reform, part massage for any residual tensions left over from the summer. Here’s a five-point summary of the things that stood out to me:

i) An appeal to NHS workers. Lansley began not just by paying extended tribute to NHS staff, but by encouraging everyone else to do the same. “I want to thank them,” he said, “and I know we all want to thank them” — to which the audience duly responded with applause. Although this was designed to sweeten some of the less romantic rhetoric later on, it was still telling that Lansley should be quite so effusive at the start. There does seem to be growing concern among some Tories in Manchester that not enough is being done to reassure public sector workers, let alone attract their votes.