Mr Lansley told the NHS Confederation conference in Manchester on Friday: ‘Lord Darzi's plans would see the biggest ‘super-sizing' of the NHS since it began in 1948. Valued parts of our communities like district general hospi-tals would go under Darzi's knife.

‘Gordon Brown made a massive misjudgement when he put someone in charge of the whole of the NHS who just doesn't get how much our local health services mean to us,' he added.

Mr Lansley also accused the government of back peddling on Blairite health reforms such as foundation trusts and Payment By Results.

‘It is incredible that the government's latest strategy docu-ment on the NHS makes no mention of GPs as commissioners,' he said.

jonn.elledge@haymarket.com

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