Labour's Andy Burnham MP threatens to sue Conservative health secretary Jeremy Hunt over tweet
Labour is threatening to sue health secretary Jeremy Hunt after he sent a tweet alleging a cover-up about NHS failures.
Controversy: Conservative health secretary Jeremy Hunt
According to the Sunday Times, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham MP is preparing libel proceedings over the tweet after Labour party lawyers demanded Hunt remove the comment.
However, Hunt has not removed the tweet and Tom Watson MP warned on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that the dispute could “go all the way” to court.
The comments were made after a 2010 health quango email exchange was published last week which suggested Burnham’s department blocked a press release about failings at an Essex hospital.
After Hunt’s tweet alleging NHS cover-ups, Burnham wrote to him and gave him until the end of Friday to either provide evidence or remove the tweet and apologise.
But Hunt stood firm and the tweet remains on his Twitter feed.
Hunt told the Times: “The tragedy here is that Labour refuse to acknowledge what went wrong on their watch, and are still trying to defend the indefensible.”