asked the Minister of Health by what authority his chief Press officer brought pressure on the editor of Today not to publish an article describing conditions at St. George's Hospital, Hornchurch, and, without the knowledge or permission of the hon. Member for Barking or any consultation with him, falsely quoted him as supporting the chief Press officer's view that this article should not be published.

The chief Press officer very properly put certain considerations before the editor. He did not quote the hon. Member as suggested.

While he did not quote me by name, is the Minister aware that he did refer to those Members who had take a particular interest in the hospital, who obviously include the hon. Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Lagden), who no doubt agrees with him, and also myself, since I hid raised the matter on the adjournment? Does not the Minister agree that to take this action without consultation with or permission from at least one of those hon. Members is going a bit far, even though the chief Press officer erred, if he erred, entirely through an excess of zeal?

What my chief Press officer did was to express the hope to the editor that a longer period of trial would be given to the present efforts to improve conditions and I am sure that the hon. Member will agree that that was a perfectly proper thing to do. All that my chief Press officer wished to suggest was the hope that the hon. Member, too, would agree that conditions had improved. Certainly, he did not wish to suggest that the hon. Gentleman would agree that the article should not be published. Because of the seriousness of the allegation, I naturally looked into the matter with great care. The hon. Gentleman has written to my hon. Friend the Joint Parliamentary Secretary saying generously that he accepts that my chief Press officer acted in good faith and sincerely. I hope that the hon. Member will accept from me that his desire was the wholly admirable one of trying to ensure that in the interests of the hospital and of the patients, the hospital was given a chance to improve as soon as possible.

Will my right hon. Friend take it from me that I wish to dissociate myself entirely from the article, which was entirely misleading, and that whilst nobody in the House would ever wish to exert pressure to prevent any article from being published, it is the opinion of many that the article in question was so disgraceful and biased that it certainly should not have been published?

I know that the hospital in question is in my hon. Friend's Constituency and that he has visited it on a number of occasions.