Andrew Lansley, with reference to the NHS, in the course of a recent interview with a left wing journalist, is reputed to have said that pay should be set in line with what is necessary to recruit and retain the workforce . A perfectly sensible and respo

Andrew Lansley, with reference to the NHS, in the course of a recent interview with a left wing journalist, is reputed to have said that "pay should be set in line with what is necessary to recruit and retain the workforce".

A perfectly sensible and responsible thing to have been said by the Shadow Health Secretary. Indeed it is probably exactly in line with what one might expect from a director when discussing the future management of his company.

Yet, Andrew Lansley is being chastised in the press for making such a statement and is accused of being entrapped by the Labour party spin machine.

I suggest that David Cameron and the Conservative Party would do well to follow Andrew Lansley's direct speaking and spell out clearly how they propose to resolve this Gordon Brown created "black hole" in our national finances and stop playing Grandmother's footsteps with the British people.

I was brought up in the midlands where there is plain speaking and that is what the British people now expect from the Conservative party.

For some 25 years I was chairman of the Mordens branch of the South Cambridgeshire Conservative Association. I know Andrew Lansley well. He is straightforward, caring, and conscientious. What he says about the NHS is both correct and responsible and he should be supported for saying it.

Jeremy Fordham

Odsey