NICK CLEGG initially backed the Tories’ NHS “revolution” because he did not fully understand the consequences, rebel Liberal Democrat John Pugh said yesterday.

The Southport MP turned up the heat over the controversial Health Bill by accusing his own party leader of not realising the implications of opening up the NHS to competition from the private sector.

The comments came as Dr Pugh warned the Bill must be dumped if it cannot be significantly improved, saying: “Unless it gets radical, surgical treatment than it shouldn’t go through.”

Increasingly, other Lib- Dem MPs – and even some Conservatives – are echoing Dr Pugh’s warning that the Bill threatens “chaos and confusion” if it goes ahead.

Some at Westminster believe David Cameron is ready to junk the entire package – humiliating Health Secretary Andrew Lansley – in order to glue the Coalition back together.

On Sunday, Mr Clegg condemned the NHS changes as a “disruptive revolution” – despite boasting, in January, that the policy was included in his own party’s election manifesto.

Asked why his leader was performing a U-turn, Dr Pugh said: “To some extent, unless you are an expert in health policy, you don’t immediately see the flaws.

“It’s only when you get into a technical examination that you become seriously concerned. The Government is partly at fault.”

The Bill has sparked widespread opposition because it will hand most of the NHS’s £100bn-plus budget to consortia of GPs – scrapping primary care trusts (PCTs), at the cost of 4,500 jobs in the Merseyside area.

The GPs will buy services from private companies and charities, raising fears that NHS hospitals will go bust if those providers grab large chunks of their revenue, by “cherry-picking” the easiest treatments.