Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has been accused of having no "guts" after declining to address nurses today.
Members of the Royal College of Nurses plan a "no confidence" vote on him after his decision not to follow tradition and take the Minister's slot at their conference.
He will instead just chat with 50 nurses.
Although one nurse accused him of lacking the guts to address the conference in the current atmosphere of swingeing cuts, an insider has told us there is more to it.
"When he was younger, he was a bit of a tom cat," said the source.
"You would always find him hanging round pubs where nurses socialised. He managed to 'hook up' with quite a few nurses in his time but got a reputation for 'never calling' afterwards.
"There's a few nurses out there who would like to 'have a word' as it were."
