Under-fire Health Secretary Steve Barclay has finally broken cover and attempted to shift blame for the NHS crisis onto Covid, Strep A and flu.
The top Tory admitted the dire situation in the health service was not acceptable after several trusts announced critical incidents and ambulances waited hours outside hospitals to transfer their patients.
But he said "a combination of very high rates of flu, persistent and high levels of COVID, continuing concerns particularly among many parents around Strep A" were at the root of the "massive pressures" faced by the health service over Christmas.
