Michael Howard visited the former Thatcherite heartlands just hours after ditching historic Tory tax-cutting policies.

The Shadow Chancellor denied he was betraying the Iron Lady's legacy by concentrating on public services.

"I still want to cut tax as soon as it becomes possible to do so," he said during a visit to Hendon on Thursday last week.

"But our public services are in such a parlous state that we have to put them first it's a matter of life and death."

Mr Howard dismissed suggestions the last Conservative government's 1997 closure of Edgware General Hospital would undermine his new-found zest for public services.

Its closure has since been blamed by many Tories for their disastrous 1997 election results in north west London.

"You can't keep the health service in aspic you have to change from time to time," he said. "Change may mean opening some new hospitals and closing old hospitals."

He added: "I'm not commenting on whether that was the right decision or not."

Mr Howard was recently brought back to prominence by new Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.

"In my two years on the back benches I had more complaints about the NHS that I had in the previous 16 years as an MP," he told Hendon Conservative Association.

"I got very angry about it so when Iain asked me to do a job which would enable me to take a key role in developing our policy for health I couldn't refuse."

However, with three years at the earliest before the next election, Mr Howard was not giving any clues as to his policy.

"I don't want to upset the applecart," he added.

November 27, 2001 17:27

MATTHEW NIXSON