Focus: Westminster – New doctors in the house

An unnoticed feature of the recent British general election has been a shift in the balance of power among doctor MPs. There are now six doctors in the House of Commons, one more than before, but three of them are Liberal Democrats. Out of 46 Liberal Democrat MPs that is a reasonable proportion and rewards political tenacity. Among the 30 or so doctors who stand at each general election, the Liberals consistently account for the largest group. But their efforts had a singular lack of success until last month. Their resurgence was at the expense of the Conservatives, whose reduced ranks now contain only one doctor against Labour's two.

It is a rebalancing which also calls for …