Despite ongoing uncertainty over the election and what the shape the next government will take, one key Labour figure, the health secretary Andy Burnham, will be breathing a sigh of relief after keeping hold of his seat in Leigh.
Things, however, were not so rosy for other members of the outgoing Labour government’s health team, as ministers Ann Keen (Brentford and Isleworth), Gillian Merron (Lincoln) and Mike O’Brien (North Warwickshire) lost their positions to Tory candidates Mary Macleod, Karl McCartney and Dan Byles, respectively.
On the other side of the fence, the Conservative’s health contingent all managed to hold on to power, after shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire) and Anne Milton (Guildford), Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) Mark Simmonds (Boston and Skegness) and Stephen O’Brien (Eddisbury) were voted back in by the public.
No party was able to garner enough of a majority to claim victory in the general election 2010, and as PharmaTimes UK News Online was going to press, both the Tory and Labour parties were still in talks with the Lib Dems over forming some kind of coalition. Perhaps as some kind of a sweetener, outgoing prime minister Gordon Brown announced yesterday that he is stepping down as head of the Labour party.
