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Shirley Williams leads revolt as deputy PM is told to demand that health shake-up be abandoned Nick Clegg suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of his own party as Liberal Democrat activists voted overwhelmingly against coalition plans for a radical overhaul of the NHS. Delegates rejected the “damaging and unjustified market-based approach” being championed by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, as anger over the Tory-led NHS agenda boiled over at the party’s spring conference in Sheffield. The Lib Dem leadership had gone into the session backing a motion unreservedly supportive of the Lansley approach – only to see the grassroots insert changes that would undermine the basic principles behind it. After the crushing defeat, Clegg immediately faced demands from former education secretary Shirley Williams that he take the message back to the cabinet and demand that Lansley change the NHS bill to conform with Lib Dem demands. In an interview with the Observer , Williams, a ringleader behind the revolt, said: “It means that Nick Clegg has to go back to Lansley with the other Lib Dem members of the cabinet and say, ‘I can’t get this through my party. We will have to make amendments’.” Williams also demanded that Clegg and his party whips back off from their approach of disciplining MPs who oppose those aspects of government policy – such as the Lansley plan – that were not in the coalition agreement. If the party failed to allow members to “let off steam” and debate issues openly, she added, people would leave and its flagging support would fall away. Successive speakers tore into Lansley’s approach – under which responsibility for commissioning health services would pass to GPs and private operators could play a far bigger role. Williams said the party rank-and-file had to stand up and be counted. “In doing so we will make the coalition a better coalition,” she added. St Ives MP Andrew George said it was natural for incoming governments to trash the record of their predecessors. “But don’t trash the NHS,” he said. “This is a dream come true for litigators, lawyers and management consultants. The Lib Dems were the architects of the NHS. Don’t let us become the architects of its demise.” Former MP Dr Evan Harris, one of the driving forces behind the main amendment, said he wanted Clegg and the leadership to “seize the opportunity” to secure fundamental changes to the bill. Dr Charles West, who proposed the text, warned that there was a serious potential for conflicts of interest. “Will your GP be looking after you or the budget?” he asked. The amendment said: “Conference regrets that some of the proposed reforms have never been Liberal Democrat policy, did not feature in our manifesto or in the agreed coalition programme, which instead called for an end to large-scale top-down reorganisations.” In a speech to the conference Clegg will stress that the Lib Dems have their own distinct identity. “We have our own label: Liberal. We are liberals and we own the freehold to the centre ground of British politics. Governing from the middle, for the middle.” Shadow health secretary John Healey, who sat in on proceedings in Sheffield, said: “This debate has forced a big climbdown for Nick Clegg and his ministers, and the conference delegates have made it clear that David Cameron’s reckless NHS plans are not Lib Dem policy. “They have shown today that they don’t want their party to get dragged down by the damage the Tories are trying to do to the health service. The big test now is for Nick Clegg, and it will be for him to persuade David Cameron to make fundamental changes to the planned legislation and reorganisation. After the vote Clegg said he did not want the profit motive to “run a coach and horses through the NHS”. He said his attitude to the health service was simple. “Yes to reform of the NHS. But no to privatisation of the NHS.” Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg Health policy Health Toby Helm guardian.co.uk