Tom Richmond: An unhealthy case of political paper-shuffling

Here are two examples to illustrate my point. Out-of-hours GP cover is in crisis. It doesn't matter whether you blame the doctors, primary care trusts or Ministers. It is scandalous that one doctor can be expected to cover a whole county at night.

And, even if you live in an area with more cover, such as West Yorkshire, there are fundamental problems with the hi-tech equipment which were exposed in a damning report earlier this week.

The response of Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary? If someone has a medical emergency in the middle of the night, they could still contact NHS Direct or go to hospital – very helpful advice if you're a single parent with a sickly child. It summed up the extent to which Ministers have become detached from local communities; they do not understand people's frustrations or the need for local services, tailor-made to the requirements of each area.

The Tories intend to pass responsibility from the PCTs to GPs. In other words, a cosmetic paper-shuffling exercise.

Yet, given the contribution of Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary this week, they'll be lucky to even get into power. His team face accusations that they distorted official statistics to exaggerate violent crime levels under New Labour.

They sent the details to candidates in key marginal seats to use. What they did not make clear, however, is that the criteria for compiling this data has been changed. For example, it's the perception of a victim whether an incident of "swearing" is considered violent or not. This health warning was overlooked.

Rather than admitting his error, Grayling simply blamed the Government for the way it compiles statistics. He may have a point, but it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Voters just want to be told the facts. Typically, no apology or acknowledgment of error was forthcoming in Grayling's radio interview when humility was required.

This kind of "spin" was supposed to have been laid to rest when

Alastair Campbell left Downing Street. It has not. The Tories appear to be just as manipulative as New Labour. But the most worrying aspect of these two examples is that Burnham and Grayling are supposed to be two of Britain's more capable politicians. Heaven help us if this is the best that Westminster can offer.

IN response to two recent Tory mailshots, the first of which arrived on New Year's Eve, Labour's Pudsey candidate Jamie Hanley has sent out a missive of his own – with the letters franked by Unison.

It's a curious affair. He namechecks Tory leader David Cameron five times and pipsqueak George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, once.

There's no mention of Gordon Brown or any Cabinet minister apart from this one admission: "I will not insult you by saying that everything is better, of course it isn't."

I can only assume that he means the PM.

IN a classic piece of political buck-passing, the Government claims six of the 10 people, who owe a total of 1m in benefit overpayments, incurred their debts before 1995.

What the Junior Work and Pensions Minister, Helen Goodman, did not explain is why Labour, after 13 years in power, has not recouped this money – especially given that the biggest overpayment was 136,568.

NEXT time you're stuck in a traffic jam, or your train is late, remember these words that were uttered last week by Transport Minister Sadiq Khan: "We are a party that believes in governing for the whole country and not just for our chums in London."

He's obviously never experienced a Yorkshire rush hour and how delays are exacerbated by the extent to which funding remains so heavily skewed in London's favour.

HAVING once had the privilege of meeting Mo Mowlam in Hull – industrial language and all – the brilliant actress Julie Walters's portrayal of the former Northern Ireland Secretary in the Channel Four biopic, Mo, was simply outstanding. She captured the politician's voice and facial impressions perfectly, so much so that I had to remind myself that this was a piece of television theatre.

Yet it left me asking one question: What would have happened if Mowlam had not been struck down tragically with a brain tumour? Would she have become so popular with the public? And, if so, would she have remained in the Cabinet after the 2001 election – and questioned the legality, or otherwise, of the Iraq invasion and become an uniting force for the

war's sceptics?

THE most lame justification for the Iraq war, and the failure of

Cabinet ministers not to ask the searching questions being posed at the

Chilcot Inquiry, comes from Margaret Beckett, who succeeded Jack Straw as Foreign Secretary.

"We may have been wrong, but we were trying to do what was right,"

she told the inquiry. And not very well, I might add.

ON the subject of Chilcot, it was Gordon Brown – when announcing its launch – who said unequivocally: "No British document and no British witness will be beyond the scope of the inquiry."

Why, therefore, have key documents still not been declassified? Presumably, New Labour wants to avoid President George W Bush being summoned to give evidence.

GIVEN the importance of British produce, and the Government's penchant for concocting new school subjects, can I suggest that Ministers find time for lessons on the origins of food.

I make this suggestion after a survey of more than 1,000 children showed that nearly two-thirds think eggs come from sheep, crisps are

made of plastic and butterflies produce cheese.