Ellee Seymour

With our NHS limping from one catastrophe to another, our primary care trusts struggling to balance their books after being millions in debt, forcing staff cuts and bed closures on an essential front-line service, surely this is the time for Patricia Hewitt to resign.

There is no public confidence in how she has carried out her job as Secretary of State for Health. Charles Clarke was forced to resign when it became clear how shambolic the Home Office was run, it is now time for Hewitt to follow suit.

She is responsible for the PCTs and yet 9 out of 10 were reported as being only weak or fair, it is obviously a system that has failed. The Health Commission’s report has told the NHS to raise its game if it is to serve patients as they deserve, that patients want a “universal guarantee” that trusts are meeting general standards, including safety and cleanliness, and that they expect these standards to be met next year.

Labour has had 9 years to provide these essential services and failed, so another year is not going to make any difference. Their time in office resulted in more than 18,000 NHS jobs being axed, hospitals and wards facing closure and many trainee doctors and nurses unable to find jobs. They have the worst deficit in the history of the NHS. A desperately disillusioned hospital consultant has even formed a political party to challenge the Government.

A report in today’s local paper tells how a woman suffering from excruciating toothache in Suffolk was told by NHS Direct helpline that the nearest available treatment was in Wolverhampton - 200 miles away - sums up the mess the NHS is in, it is in decay. It is now time to act on healing our stricken NHS by seeking Hewitt’s resignation.

There’s been some chopping and changing on the Mid-Norfolk shortlist after the glamorous Louise Bagshawe found success in Corby and Maria Hutchings, who lashed out at Blair on live TV last year over special school closures, wants to concentrate on Stevenage.

Two very well-bred ladies will be filling their shoes at the next round on Saturday, Annunziata Rees-Mogg, daughter of William Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times, and Laura Sandys, daughter of former defence minister Sir Duncan Sandys.

Laura has an impressive background as a political consultant specialising in foreign and defence policy. I don’t know how she failed to be selected first time round. She does not seem to be very lucky, she also failed to be chosen as a Tory candidate last year, despite being on two shortlists.

But a Google search failed to reveal anything at all about Annunziata, despite being a journalist, I have no idea what she has written, though I believe she did last year stand in the safe Labour seat of Abervon, so she has cut her political teeth.

I am disappointed that neither of the two local candidates who pitched themselves against 18 A-listers were not given the chance to go through to the next round. I’ve never seen a more carefully chosen list - five men, and five women, 1 ethnic minority on each side. This will next be whittled down to four.

I’m not sure how this selection process works, but I would have thought if a candidate was keen on a seat, they would not apply for others at the same time, it does not show commitment to the constituency. And this new seat is worth fighting for, it will almost certainly go blue. Pulling out at this stage will leave local people feeling that the candidates were not genuine in the first place. I wonder if any others also have their sights set on other seats and will also step down before the end of the week. I hope they will be told by the local association, that that is not on, it makes a mockery of the whole process.

Update: 10.30pm. Champagne corks popping for Annunziata who has now been selected for Somerset and Frome. Sheonly lasted a day on the shortlist. Will there be any candidates left for Mid-Norfolk, I wonder. It is a nice place, honestly!