Pressure on Milburn over MMR

The spotlight turned on Health Secretary Alan Milburn today as Tories stepped up pressure over the MMR vaccine.

Opposition MPs called on Mr Milburn - in overall charge of the drive to get parents to accept the triple jab - to reveal whether his own children had been given it.

Mr Milburn and his partner Ruth Briel, a psychiatrist, have two sons, Joe, 10, and Danny, four. Danny is of an age to have required his parents to choose whether to give him the triple dose against measles, mumps and rubella or to pay for separate vaccinations.

Like Tony and Cherie Blair, however, Mr Milburn and Ms Briel have refused to answer to maintain the privacy of their children. His spokeswoman said today: "He will not say anything about his children."