Cameron dismisses Tory critic of NHS as an 'eccentric'

David Cameron scrambled to reassure voters that his party backed the NHS today as Labour seized on attacks on the service by a high-profile Tory MEP.

The Conservative leader dismissed Dan Hannan as an "eccentric" after he appeared on US television warning Americans not to copy Britain's state-funded system of healthcare.

The health service has come under attack in the US as President Obama fights for his healthcare reforms.

Mr Hannan told US TV viewers that the NHS "puts the power of life and death in a state bureaucracy" and said "I wouldn't wish it on anybody".

He now faces disciplinary action by the Tory chief whip in Brussels. Conservative MEP group leader Timothy Kirkhope told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "An impression has been given in the US about the views of David Cameron and the Conservative party which is not accurate."

Lord Mandelson, standing in for Gordon Brown this week, said most Britons would be appalled that a Tory MEP had gone to America to "slag off the NHS".

Health Secretary Andy Burnham described Mr Hannan's remarks as "unpatriotic" and claimed the row was "David Cameron's worst nightmare" because Mr Hannan spoke for many in the Tory ranks who want a US-style health insurance system in Britain.

Speaking from his constituency in Oxfordshire, Mr Cameron rejected the Labour claims and said the NHS was a "great national institution".

"We are the party of the NHS, we back it, we are going to expand it, we have ring-fenced it and said that it will get more money under a Conservative government, and it is our number one mission to improve it," he said.

Mr Hannan has emerged as a darling of the Tory rank and file because of his YouTube attack on Mr Brown and was given a key speaking slot at the party's spring conference.

But for the first time, Mr Cameron criticised Mr Hannan directly today. "He does have some quite eccentric views about some things, and political parties always include some people who don't toe the party line on one issue or another issue," the Tory leader said.

Mr Burnham said: "What has happened within the last 48 hours is what Cameron has feared most because it lays bare the Tories' deep ambivalence towards the NHS.

"Their election strategy is not to talk about the NHS. Cameron knows there is deep hostility towards it within his ranks. Hannan is not the only one - many senior Tory MPs would privately agree with his comments."