He said private health insurance would be made more attractive through a dramatic reduction in the cost.

Dr Liam Fox unveiled a "patients' guarantee"

The Tories believe boosting business schemes used by 3.7m people in the UK would be the best way of increasing the total number of people using medical insurance, and would ease pressure on the NHS.

Dr Fox said patients should not have to put up with whatever standard of treatment is handed out to them, "like some Dickensian paupers getting their gruel."

But in the Commons, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Tories would subsidise tax breaks for the private sector by taking money from the NHS.

'End political football'

Speaking at an NHS Confederation meeting in Scotland, Dr Fox accused Labour of turning health into a political football. He said a Tory government would act to de-politicise health as part of its policy agenda.

"Political interference in the day-to-day management of the service must end and management must be free to manage, liberated from the intrusive and bullying culture which is the hallmark of the current government," he said.

"If we are serious about de-politicising the NHS, we need to begin by reducing the ability of the (Health Secretary) to interfere in the management of the system."

He said his party's policy would be to restrict government to a regulatory and broad strategic role instead of issuing edicts.

An in an effort to counter Labour claims that the Tories are intent on privatising the NHS, he pledged that his party would match the government's spending plans for the health service. He stressed that it would remain a comprehensive rather than just a core service, free at the point of use, under a Conservative government.

And he held out the prospect of increased private sector provision, and public-private co-operation.

'Tories would shrink NHS'

Dr Fox said that patients would be assigned their own individual maximum waiting time by their consultant, instead of a general target set by politicians.

If patients had to wait beyond their allotted time for treatment, they would be guaranteed a free referral to another health authority or the private sector.

Labour attacked the plans. Health Secretary Alan Milburn said that increasing private medical insurance would "shrink" the NHS.

He said: "There will now be a clear choice on offer - between Labour's plans to expand and modernise the NHS and the Conservatives' plans to shrink the NHS by using its resources to pay for tax perks for private medical insurance."