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Tory policy chief Oliver Letwin wrote a radical 'blueprint' for privatising the NHS, it was revealed today.

David Cameron 's right-hand man co-penned a document for an influential think tank, which contains a string of ideas that have already been introduced by the Tories - including the increased reliance on private companies.

But it also calls for the principle of the NHS being free at the point of use to be scrapped, and even for patients to be charged for every service.

Mr Letwin was today forced to distance himself from the extreme ideas in the pamphlet, entitled "Britain's biggest enterprise: Ideas for radical reform of the NHS" and written in 1988.

He denies the ideas have fed into Tory health policy.

(Image: Getty)

But as recently as 2004, Mr Letwin told a private meeting the NHS would 'cease to exist' within five years of a Tory government.

And as a Cabinet office minister, he paid particular attention to Andrew Lansley's hated Health and Social Care Bill, boasting he'd been through it "line by line".

The bill wrote two of the five point plan proposed in the pamphlet in to law. A third is currently being explored.

The establishment of the NHS as an 'independent trust' - which became NHS England - and the increased use of private providers were central planks of the Health and Social Care Act.

Next, it proposes he scrapping of the principle that the NHS is 'free at the point of use', suggesting a "tentative exploration" of charging for every service.

(Image: Getty)

In July, Lord Prior, a Tory peer and minister for NHS Productivity, proposed an independent inquiry into whether the principle of the NHS being free is "sustainable."

Points four and five would set the NHS up as an insurance or credit based system, where patients would be issued credit notes they could spend with private providers.

Mr Letwin said: "This pamphlet, written many years ago, no longer represents my views on the management of the NHS, and has no relevance to the policy on the NHS adopted and pursued by this government now or in the future.

(Image: PA)

"I am a strong advocate of the measures this government has taken and is taking to improve the care of patients in the NHS."

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's Shadow Minister without Portfolio said: "It’s worrying that these proposals were made by David Cameron ’s policy chief.

"The Tories have made it harder to see a GP, pushed up waiting lists and plunged hospitals into financial crisis. This is yet more evidence that you simply can’t trust the Tories with the NHS."

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “Not only did Oliver Letwin hold disgraceful views about race in Britain but he also held dangerous views about the future of the NHS. What’s really worrying is that many of his privatising ideas have actually been put into practice by the Tories and they are having disastrous effects on our NHS.

“It also shows that the Tories have been plotting to tear up the NHS and replace it with a US style health system for years."