The MP for Ilford North told LBC Radio this morning: “I had kidney cancer earlier this year and went through successful treatment for that. When it comes to cancer treatment and cancer outcomes, timing is everything…

“In my case, the only reason I knew I had kidney cancer, the only reason I’m talking to you this morning cancer free, is because I have kidney stones.

“So, in a scan for something entirely different, my cancer was detected.

“In that big NHS backlog, for all sorts of operations, there will undoubtedly be cancer cases that will go undetected.

“That’s why we urgently need from the Government an elective care recovery plan to get those NHS waiting lists down, to shorten waiting times and speed up cancer treatment because when it comes to cancer, timing is everything.”

His remarks come as figures published this morning by the the National Audit Office estimated that up to 740,000 cancer tests had been “missed” in England since the UK’s initial lockdown.