The former secretary of state for health, Andrew Lansley, will join the House of Lords, it was announced by the government today.
He is one of 45 people who will become a Lord or Lady, and given one of the Peerages of the United Kingdom for Life by the Queen.
The former secretary of state for health, Andrew Lansley, will join the House of Lords, it was announced by the government today.
He is one of 45 people who will become a Lord or Lady, and given one of the Peerages of the United Kingdom for Life by the Queen.
Lansley is a Conservative party politician and was the shadow secretary of state for health from 2004 until 2010, and the secretary of state for health from 2010 until 2012.
He was also the member of parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2015, and leader of the house of commons from 2012 until 2014.
He was the architect of the controversial Health and Social Care Act 2012, which included the dissolution of primary care trusts and introduction of clinical commissioning groups.
He received criticism from health professionals at the time, and on 13 April 2011, 96% of 497 delegates at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) conference backed a motion of no confidence questioning Andrew Lansley's handling of NHS reforms in England.
Similarly, on 28 June 2012, doctors at the annual British Medical Association (BMA) conference voted in favour of calling for Andrew Lansley's resignation in a motion that stated: "This meeting has no confidence in Andrew Lansley, the secretary of state for health, and calls for him to resign".
At the moment, the current secretary of state for health Jeremy Hunt is under similar criticism, as 218,029 people have signed a petition asking: “To debate a vote of no confidence in health secretary the Right Hon Jeremy Hunt”.
The petition stated that “Jeremy Hunt has alienated the entire workforce of the NHS by threatening to impose a harsh contract and conditions on first consultants and soon the rest of the NHS staff.”
