The conspiracy theory goes like this: Hunt is taking a hard-line in some grand plan by Cameron to soften the ground for a reduction in the abortion limit from 6 to 5 months. The whole debate would also be a giant distraction from the NHS reforms. Guido thinks this gives Hunt way too much credit, but one thing did catch his eye in a briefing sent to Tory MPs. The top line is that the “Government has no plans to revisit this issue“, but then there is this below:

“We are publishing our sexual health strategy in the autumn which will cover a large range of issues including contraception and abortion.”

A sliver of wriggle room.

The thing that kills the theory though is the fact that today was meant to be this:

Today I met the nursing team at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and announced £140m to help their work across the country pic.twitter.com/Ztw8c99N

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) October 6, 2012

A stunning success for the new “communicating Health Secretary”.