NHS claims derail Tory campaign
Updated on 22 August 2007
David Cameron's attempt to focus on "anarchy in the UK" is derailed by confusion over hospital closure claims.
The Conservatives started this week promising the gloves would come off in a "bare-knuckle fight" with Labour over the health service.
Two days later, it looks more like it's the wheels that have come off their campaign.
When is an apology not an apology? The Conservative leader wasn't saying. While David Cameron was addressing the problem of what he's dubbed "anarchy in the UK", his party was beginning to look like it needed some discipline.
Horton hospital in Oxford, which Mr Cameron visited earlier this month, says it was given a verbal apology by the Conservatives after it was included in a list of hopsitals facing cuts to accident and emergency services.
The Princess Royal hospital in Telford, which the Tories said could lose its maternity ward, thought it had got an apology too. It seems it did - and then didn't.
At 10.30 yesterday an official from the Princess Royal hospital emailed David Cameron via the Conservative party website.
He wrote: "I wanted to correct some misinformation that has been included in your report... You state that maternity services are under threat. That is categorically not the case. The report has caused understandable but unnecessary concern to local women and to our staff."
This was sent on to David Cameron's office, which forwarded it to a researcher who replied to the hospital, saying: "I apologise for this error that has been made in this case - it has, of course, been immediatly rectified."
But today the shadow health secretary withdrew that apology, saying: "Future reconfiguration affecting services in that hospital are continuing. On that basis it was not correct for my researcher to apologise for its inclusion."
The hospitel says the Conservatives have still to tell them the apology has been withdrawn.
