Andrew Lansley denies that David Cameron ordered him to withdraw from all-party talks on elderly care

Yesterday's papers - such as the Times - covered the collapse of talks between health secretary Andy Burnham and his Conservative and Lib Dem counterparts on the future of long-term care of the elderly.

Shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, admitted in a Today interview this morning that David Camaron had not known about his involvement in the talks - but denied that the Tory leader had ordered him to end the discussions.

He said:

"We had the talks. After we had the talks, I told David Cameron about them... He said, 'That's fine'... I'm in charge of this issue. What I had done was initiate a discussion because the personal care at home bill the government was proceeding with was completely at odds with the wider structure of social care reform."

"What has happened all the way through is that is that I have been willing and participating - and indeed initiated - an effort to try and secure consensus where we can. But there is no point trying to force a consensus. Either it exists or it doesn't. And frankly there are principles of fiscal responsibility, of giving people personalised responsibility over their care, and not imposing a compulsory levy and a tax at death on people, all of which are important principles".

Listen to the interview here.

> Earlier this week the Conservatives launched a poster campaign targeting Labour's "secret plan" to introduce a £20,000 death tax.

Jonathan Isaby