By skewing it one way you put pressure on the system in another place he said Right from

“By skewing it one way you put pressure on the system in another place,” he said “Right from the beginning we weren’t keen on this target The basic problem is we don’t have enough doctors or nurses. Doctors yesterday accused the Government of failing to recruit enough doctors and nurses to meet the target of seeing each patient within 48 hours. Now he, along with other potential candidates, risk being left out in the cold in a Brown administration.One of the Prime Minister’s aides said Mr Reid had irritated him with a series of overly combative and “inappro- priate” media performances.His comment yesterday is unlikely to have pleased campaign managers desperate to shut down evidence of internal jockeying for position in a third term.. The Prime Minister seemed to have little doubt as to his successor when he told The Times last week: “Gordon will make an excellent prime minister.”Before the election, Mr Reid was being heavily tipped as Downing Street’s favoured candidate. We had a discussion at Cabinet about it.” Press conference, 25 April 2005The reality: The brief note that Lord Goldsmith presented to the Cabinet on 17 March contained none of the caveats in his document of 10 days earlier. Gordon Brown has been given a warning by one of his cabinet colleagues that he will face a challenge for the Labour leadership. Clare Short, who was there, has said there was no cabinet discussion..

There were over 20 cabinet discussions of the Iraq war.” Interview with Jeremy Paxman, 20 April 2005The reality: Lord Butler’s inquiry concluded that “the informality and circumscribed character of the Government’s procedures, which we saw in the context of policymaking towards Iraq, risks reducing the scope for informed, collective, political judgment.”What Blair said: “It’s not a question of changing his mind The legal advice of the Attorney General was very clear .. The Attorney General came to Cabinet He was there. the use of all oil revenues for the benefit of the Iraqi people.” Commons motion for war, proposed by Tony Blair, 18 March 2003The reality: Iraq’s oil revenues have been used to pay US firms, often at vastly inflated prices.What Blair said: “I don’t run a sofa style of government. should be put in a trust fund for the Iraqi people administered through the United Nations.” To the House of Commons, 18 March 2003The reality: Britain co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution that gave the US and UK control of the oil revenues.What Blair said: “The United Kingdom should seek a new Security Council resolution that would affirm … “You can vote Tory, you can vote for a third party and let the Tories in.

Or you can fail to vote at all, and let the Tories in.”Tony Blair has admitted that the Iraq war will cost Labour votes, but in a written answer to a reader’s question in today’s Independent on Sunday, he too has emphasised that too many protest votes by disenchanted Labour supporters could let Mr Howard win. “I hope those who have supported us in 1997 and 2001 also consider what will happen if enough Labour supporters stay at home or decide to vote for the Lib Dems,” he wrote.”The result … will be a Tory MP in your constituency and Michael Howard in Downing Street.”But Labour’s fears are derided by the Liberal Democrats, who use a political broadcast tonight to accuse them of “crying wolf”. “Clearly, Labour are worried about the Liberal Democrat challenge,” Charles Kennedy says “There is no danger of a Michael Howard government. People can go out and vote for what they believe in and agree with, confident in the knowledge that he’s not going to be prime minister and that Tony Blair should certainly not enjoy another three-figure majority.”This week, Mr Kennedy will do his bit to keep Mr Howard out of Downing Street, and get him out of the Commons, by visiting Folkestone and Hythe, where the Tory leader defends a majority of 5,907 over the Liberal Democrat challenger. In a speech in Ashford, Kent, Mr Howard suggested that on Friday, “We could be waking up to a brighter day for Britain.”The Tory leader promised to “roll up his sleeves and get things done” if the Conservatives are elected on Thursday.