Allan Smith

Whenever I am in need of a good chuckle I read up on what London's mayor Boris Johnson has been up to. Not only has he lost his three most senior advisors to one scandal or another, now it has been revealed after promising to cut the costs of his Olympic trip to Beijing he has gone back on his word and raked up a huge bill on the taxpayer!

Boris told the national press in June he would be travelling economy class when flying to China because "he was likely to get a free upgrade from BA".  He also promised not to stay in a £400-a-night, 5-star hotel it was suggested he be based from.  In a leaked memo to City Hall staff on August 19 he admitted he was actually travelling - on the taxpayer - by Premium Economy travel, a step up from economy.  But then there's his free BA upgrade, right? Wrong - British Airways snubbed him an upgrade so he had to slum it in the cheaper seats.

Poor chap - at least his hotel bill would be cut, right?  Wrong again - Boris and his team stayed in the official International Olympics Committee hotel, the five-star Beijing Raffles Hotel - at a cost of £400 per night.  Same old Tories - promise one thing only to break it and do something else...

We always knew Cllr Liz Redfern couldn't lead, now we learn she cannot read either!

If she read my previous correspondence on the issue of cleanliness in our hospitals carefully she will see I asked why she failed to raise the issue during her tenure on the PCT board.  Is it because she is incompetent and failed to do her job properly or is it because the issue does not exist?

Cllr Redfern's Conservative group should remember the consecutive Tory governments, during the 1980s and 90s, who forced hospitals to bring in private cleaning contractors.  Not only did that mean hundreds of people lost their jobs as costs were cut, but it lined the pockets of the Tories' friends in the private sector.  In 1997 the NHS was on its knees with long waiting lists and under-investment.  Now the NHS is the envy of nations the world over.

Instead of dismissing the efforts of the staff Cllr Redfern and her right-wing friends should recognise the hard work and dramatic improvements in our hospitals. I would hope she will now dismiss the ‘boring political ping pong' and publicly disown the Shadow Minister for starting this anti-hospital staff campaign and instead congratulate those who do an excellent job of looking after the health of local residents - including members of the Conservative group!

Just last year Samantha Cameron, the local wife of Tory leader David, told fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar that she did not have ‘huge amounts of spare cash' to spend on designer clothing. During hard times, with petrol prices on the rise and the cost of food increasing, I think we can all admire her honesty - even if the Camerons earn in excess of a six-figure salary.

However, it would appear Mrs Cameron's idea of being poor is slightly different to everybody else. At the weekend the national press reported Mrs Cameron had designed a brand new designer handbag retailing at £775.  Not a bad price for someone who doesn't have huge amounts of spare cash!

I wonder if those North Lincolnshire residents on low incomes would agree with Mrs Cameron's perception that £775 is not a huge amount of cash to spend on a designer item?

Having read Cllr Liz Redfern's comments regarding the cleanliness of our local hospitals (‘We take reports of vermin in hospitals seriously' - August 7) I feel people should be made aware of a very important point. If the local Tory leader is so disgusted by the issue I would ask why she failed to do a single thing about it while she served as vice-chair of the North Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust?  This is the very same Cllr Redfern who spent many years on the PCT Trust Board and never once raised the issue of so-called ‘dirty hospitals'.  Why, in such a position of power, did she fail to do anything about it - or is it because there is no problem at all?

Instead the Tory leader has chosen to scare residents with a nasty, cheap attack on hard-working members of staff. She is a disgrace. The Tories claim our hospital is overrun with rats and vermin but their numbers do not stack up. I personally cannot praise the staff of our local hospitals enough. I have visited Scunthorpe General Hospital a number of times recently and the staff do an incredible job. The wards are cleaner than they have ever been with signs and notices reminding visitors to wash their hands.

I would urge Cllr Redfern to personally write to the staff at our local hospital to apologise for this shameful political attack.  This further proves the Tories can never be trusted with our nation's health.