Tories trip up on health policy

The British Conservative party's policy on health was thrown into confusion last week over proposed links between the NHS and the private sector.

The emerging policy line for a future Conservative government has been to harness the resources of the private sector to relieve pressure on the NHS because it “could not do everything.” This was the emphasis of policy speeches by the shadow health secretary Ann Widdecombe at the Tory conference last year and it was reiterated by her deputy Ian …