Gordon Brown today lost another expert outsider drafted into his "government of all the talents" when Ara Darzi quit as health minister, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and on his medical consultancy work.
Downing Street said Lord Darzi's departure did not reflect any political disillusionment with the government but his departure comes only a week after another independent ministerial adviser, Lord Malloch Brown, the foreign office minister, announced he was quitting.
Brown praised Darzi and gave him a series of non-ministerial roles, including a role as the government's health and life sciences ambassador. Darzi, who played a key role in reorganising the NHS, said in his resignation statement: "During my time as a minister, I have maintained my clinical practice and research. The time has now come for me to return to care for my patients, lead my academic department, and continue my research full time."
He added: "Making quality the organising principle of the NHS has revitalised professional pride, created great appetite for improvement, and built enormous momentum. This movement for change is now embedded across the NHS and will continue for many years to come.
The Conservative health spokesman, Andrew Lansley, said: "This was surely coming for a long time. Ara Darzi's laudable focus on quality was increasingly at odds with the Brownite fixation with targets and command and control."