Michael Howard told the Commons yesterday that he had used incorrect information to attack Tony Blair over the state of the National Health Service last week.

To jeers from Labour MPs, the Tory leader admitted: "My constituent was told she would have to wait 20 months for radiotherapy. It turns out that was a mistake. She was told 20 months. She should have been told 20 weeks: five months."

The prime minister said: "The truth of the matter is that his policies on health and education are elitist, they are divisive, they are reactionary, because at their heart there is always this idea that the best you can hope for in public services is to get out of them."