Tory harmed by his party policy

There is a terrible, tragic irony to the news that former health secretary Andrew Lansley is suffering bowel cancer.

If a screening programme he introduced eight years ago had not been derailed by Treasury cuts, his cancer would have been detected far sooner.

Just 50% of men over 55 who are eligible for the screening actually receive it because of staff shortages.

Cancer survival “must not be about luck,” Mr Lansley says. But it is. In the last couple of months alone 530 cancer ops have been cancelled.

Bad luck to get cancer in the first place... worse luck to get it under this government. TRAGIC IRONY Andrew Lansley