The Lib-Dems’ Health Minister was absent from the Commons yesterday, even though it was a big day for health politics. Instead of sitting on the front bench alongside Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Norman Lamb was said to be at his son’s graduation ceremony. Lamb thus missed not only Health Questions but also a parliamentary statement on hospital failings found by the Keogh Report.
There was a time when government ministers cancelled all commitments to attend Parliament. Or was this a convenient excuse for being absent — as when John Major stayed in Huntingdon with “wisdom teeth” pains during the downfall of Margaret Thatcher in 1990?
Lib-Dems are split by the Keogh Report. The Left of the party wants to defend the NHS while the Right is more in tune with Tory claims that Labour can no longer be trusted as the party to “save the NHS”.
The Londoner is not one to cast aspersions but Lamb’s absence from the Chamber wasn’t half convenient for the junior party in the Coalition.
