Daisy Cooper

Paramedics should arrive at the scene of these calls within 18 minutes but some time-critical patients are being forced to wait for more than a day. Windsor and Maidenhead was the only one of 194 areas to meet the target for so-called 'Category 2' calls last year, with an average time of just over 16 minutes. Cornwall was the worst-performing, with an average wait of 1 hour and nine minutes - almost four times longer than it should take. This was followed by patients in West Devon, who had an average wait of just over an hour, and South Hams with an average wait of 59 minutes. The figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats, who sent Freedom of Information requests to all ten ambulance trusts in England.

The Tories are embroiled in a fresh sleaze row today after it emerged an MP has been stripped of the Tory whip and sacked as a trade envoy over allegations he misused campaign funds. Mark Menzies is said to have made a 3am call to a 78-year-old party volunteer in December claiming to have been locked up by 'bad people'. The MP for Fylde in Lancashire is accused of saying he needed £5,000 as a 'matter of life and death', with the sum later rising to £6,500, according to The Times. It was initially handed over by an office manager, before allegedly being reimbursed from party funds. A further £14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities was also allegedly transferred to Mr Menzies' personal bank accounts and used for private medical expenses. Mr Menzies disputes the allegations but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims and taking them seriously.

Michelle Donelan, the Science Secretary, is facing fresh calls to reimburse taxpayers over her libel case after the cost was revealed to be more than £34,000. The beleaguered Cabinet minister reached a settlement earlier this year with an academic she falsely accused of being a Hamas supporter. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology last month confirmed it had paid out £15,000 of public money to cover damages in the case. But it today emerged how taxpayers have also stumped up more than £19,000 to pay Ms Donelan's legal costs. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats demanded that Ms Donelan repay the costs from her own pocket, rather than rely on public funds.