Lansley the lingering liability

Fraser Nelson asks how long David Cameron can keep the BMA spokesman Andrew Lansley in his shadow health post (let alone make the man health secretary if he wins a general election).

On the Marr sofa (or the Sophie Raworth sofa as it was today), he announced that the Tories are planning "real term increases to the NHS year on year." Well, David Cameron has only said he would protect health from cuts - but he has not specified how long for. It could be as little as one year.

Nelson worries that he has gone native on NHS spending, after a series of gaffes and unapproved funding commitments. Cameron should be equally worried that Lansley is opposed to any sensible accountability or reform for that money. After all, his every pronouncement is an echo of what the BMA says, and apart from shoving patient records securely on Google, he shows no interest in what patients experience at the hands of their members.

Lansley was promised the job by Cameron for some reason best known to himself. But having changed his mind on virtually everything else he has said over the last two years, surely it can only be a matter of time before Cameron finds a new shadow health secretary?

UPDATE: And even his Google Health wheeze seems to have fallen flat.