It's always quote fascinating to see which former member of the previous government a new administration takes to its heart. Under New Labour, it was the authentically posh right-wing lothario and diarist Alan Clark.

Although there were many unattributable but warm words from the Tory front bench about Lord Adonis during the election campaign, it is former Home Office and Education minister Charles Clarke who seems to have made no small running at a Guardian fringe meeting yesterday in the Conservative Party Conference.

Will he be the Con-Dems' pet ex-New Labour minister?

This report of the event describes Clarke's broadside against the Coalition policies, quoting his "serious, serious concerns about the delivery of healthcare in this country".

Policyland and the broader NHS shouldn't be losing much sleep over that.

Clarke wrote one of the very worst publications on health policy, sponsored by KPMG, that I have yet read. Long on assertion and short on evidence, and with a cast of enough of Robert Evans' policy zombies to make a thoroughly forgettable B-movie, this thoroughly weak contribution should allow us to view Clarke's seer-like vision of public policy with all the respect it deserves.