Bakewell attacks care 'lies'

Broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell, who was appointed to the job in 2008, described the Westminster row as shameful.

Parties have been embroiled in furious exchanges over how to fund care for England's ageing population, with the Tories using a poster to warn of a 20,000 "death tax".

It emerged this week that the attack followed the breakdown of cross-party talks, held without the knowledge of party leaders, aimed at securing consensus.

"It's highly regrettable that political interests have stepped in where a really serious issue was being discussed by serious men with the interests of older people at heart," said Dame Joan.

"The fact that it has become a political circus is shameful,"

She attacked the Conservatives' "grotesque" poster as lies,

saying: "That poster, that Gordon Brown wants 20,000 when you die, is merely one of a series of options being put forward as a way of stopping people having to sell their houses."

She also attacked Mr Brown for "inventing" a new care Bill in order to have something to offer his party conference.