The furore surrounding the defence secretary is distracting attention from some stories
that are threatening the coalition’s tranquillity. Benedict Brogan reports that the Health Bill is being amended out of existence by a
cabal of Lib Dem peers, a campaigned that was mooted during the party conference season. The
rebellion is apparently aggravating Number 10, which understood that Nick Clegg had secured his party’s support for the diluted programme which emerged after the recent “listening
exercise”. Labour’s numerical superiority in the House of Lords means that ministers will have to be at their most mellifluous to bring the errant Lib Dems back to the fold, because Tory
backbenchers are clear that they will not stomach further revisions. The scene is set for a conflagration.
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