ConDems dismantling NHS...

So, the Tories have let slip their secret plans to scrap the professional, much-respected NHS Direct Service.

So when you phone NHS Direct in future, you are unlikely to get a trained nurse responding, but a call centre operative instead.

It's another of Cameron's pre-election promises broken and threatens to reverse the achievements of the past few years in reducing waiting times at Accident and Emergency departments.

The Tory determination to cut the NHS is not so surprising given their record - they fought tooth and nail to prevent Labour creating a National Health Service for all in the first place - then starved it of cash and almost destroyed it in the Thatcher era.

What I find surprising is the apparent willingness of Nick Clegg and the LibDems to roll over, dump any pretence of principles, and campaign for the Tory agenda to cut public services under a thinly disguised veil of 'cutting the deficit'.

Of course we need to cut waste where it can be identified and improve services, but the ConDem Coalition has no mandate to cut the NHS itself.