David Cameron has just held a press conference where he told the assembled hacks

“it would be far too simplistic for me to stand here and announce some kind of ‘Bonfire of the Quangos.’ People have heard that kind of talk many times before, and seen little to show for it. Instead, we need a more sophisticated approach. Yes we need to reduce the number, size, scope and influence of quangos…”

Well here are 17 quangos the Tories have proposed:

1. Office of Tax Simplification
2. Office of Budget Responsibility
3. Free national financial advice service
4. ‘Sports Commission’ (Australian model)
5. Office for Civil Society
6. Social Investment Bank
7. Skills advisory service for service personnel
8. Service for families of departing armed forces personnel
9. Military inquest family advisory service
10. International Aid Watchdog
11. Innovative Projects Agency
12. National Foundation for STEM
13. HealthWatch
14. Defence Export Services Organisation
15. All Age Careers Service
16. Voluntary Action Lottery Fund
17. A ‘development agency for libraries’

Source : Labour Party press office.

Andrew Neil gave Phil Hammond a roughing up this morning on the Daily Politics (2 mins 40 secs in):

[bbc-news width=480 height=382 video=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8136298.stm]

Even Nick Robinson is dissecting the internal contradictions of Cameroon quango reformism versus Thatcherite quango burning.  The Tories of course propose to create the biggest quango in history – the Independent NHS Board…