Today is the day when MPs will decide who gets to chair the Health Select Committee — a position that unexpectedly became vacant when Stephen Dorrell stepped down earlier this month. The battle is between three Tory backbenchers — Charlotte Leslie, Dr Phillip Lee and Dr Sarah Wollaston — and Tory loyalists are being urged to throw their weight behind “anyone but Wollaston”, according to The Londoner’s friends in Parliament.
Independent-minded Dr Wollaston has not made herself popular with ministers recently, with outspoken attacks on the Government’s health policy and accusations against Tory campaign chief Lynton Crosby of conflicts of interest.
“It’s like an unofficial whipping operation — everyone knows they don’t want Wollaston but it looks like she’s edged it. It’s going to make the Cameroons look a bit foolish for trying so hard,” says our source.
Watch out for the results this evening — and for yet another chink in the PM’s authority should the Totnes MP come out on top. The chairmanship of the committee is not a bad pulpit from which to carry on challenging her bosses.
