Health secretary urged to come clean on government knife statistics

London: Health Secretary Alan Johnson was urged to "come clean" on his role in the spin row over government knife statistics.

The Tories demanded an explanation from Johnson after it emerged his private office was told about the figures the day before they were published.

A Commons committee revealed Thursday that No 10 published the figures despite warnings from statistics chiefs they were "potentially inaccurate".

Downing Street trumpeted the statistics, which claimed to show a drop in admissions to hospital from stab wounds, even though a civil servant had warned that their early publication might make it look like they were being used for "political ends".

The figures, which suggested admissions for knife wounds had fallen by 27 per cent in 10 areas between July and September last year, were published on the day Gordon Brown attended an event to promote the fight against knife crime.

On Thursday the focus shifted to Johnson over a minister's claims in Parliament that he had first known about the figures on the day of publication, December 11.

However the email exchange shows that his special adviser Mario Dunn was asked to clear the release of the statistics the day before.

- Evening Standard