Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer allegedly told Barbara Windsor's husband he was 'too busy' to promote the treatment drive for Alzheimer's.
Martin Frizell, 67, made the claim during an interview on Good Morning Britain today about his wife and former presenter of the ITV show Fiona Phillips, 65, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's four years ago.
The former editor of This Morning spoke to hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls about his wife's book detailing her journey with the devastating disease and urged the Government to invest more money in finding a cure.
Mr Frizell planned to skip press rounds for the book until he spoke to Barbara Windsor's widower Scott Mitchell who has campaigned for better Alzheimer's research funding since she passed away from the from the disease aged 83 in December 2020.
He said: 'I wasn't really going to do any press for this paperback, but then I heard a few things.
'I was in touch with Barbara Windsor's husband, Scott, and he and Barbara did a big thing about dementia, and he'd written to Keir Starmer, saying, "Look, I think you should come down and do a bit of PR just on the work that Britain is doing in terms of its scientists, trying to find treatments for this."
'And the reply he got back was, "I'm too busy" type of thing.
'Now, I just think it's appalling.'
Turning his attention to former Labour politician turned TV host Ed Balls, he added: 'And I don't know, you're a politician, maybe you can explain why, because people keep asking me, why are we not putting more money into Britain's biggest killer?'
Martin Frizell, 67, appeared on Good Morning Britain today to give another update on his wife and former presenter of the ITV show Fiona Phillips, 65, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's four years ago
The former editor of This Morning spoke to hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls about his wife's book detailing her journey with the devastating disease and urged the Government to invest more money in finding a cure (Pictured: Fiona Phillips and Martin Frizell in 2024)
He explained how during the Covid era the number of people who died from dementia - an umbrella term for a decline in mental function severe enough to affect daily life with Alzheimer's accounting for around 80 per cent of 982,000 cases in the UK - was higher than that of those who died from Covid.
'And yet remember how the world came together to find something to stop COVID. But it just seems to be that Alzheimer's is the poor relation to all the other big diseases certainly like cancer. The money is just not there,' he added.
Mr Balls, who made a BBC documentary about the disease after his mother was diagnosed with it in her 60s, replied: 'You're totally right. And it's been been like that for so long.
'I was reading the final chapter of the book where you did the interview with the expert scientist and researcher.
'My mum had her diagnosis 17 years ago and in those kind of early years, we had those conversations, me and my family, and thinking, you know, we're going to get a breakthrough, but we need more money.
'And compared to cancer, Alzheimer's is underfunded. That was true 20 years ago. It's still true now.'
Mr Frizell said the medication his mother would have been prescribed back then, 'which doesn't always work', was also given to Fiona, adding that 'nothing has really moved on' since the disease was discovered and named in 1910.
Mr Balls suggested this lack of progress could be the answer as to why there is a lack of funding and attention from the Government because 'if you're not making progress, it's harder to get the momentum'.
To demonstrate how unfair funding distribution is, Mr Frizell shared a conversation he had with one of Britain's top scientists in which he asked what she could do if they abandoned one mile of HS2 and gave her the £1billion it would have cost to build it instead.
'She said, "I'm not sure we'd find the cure for Alzheimer's, but we'd certainly crack it. So you'd be able to live like you can now with HIV-AIDS or cancer.
'She said we would have so much more money now to actually employ researchers, to push things through and to go for early diagnosis.'
He criticised the Labour Government over changes they have made since they came into power which impact people with Alzheimer's and their families, arguing NHS costs relating to the disease would actually decrease if more funding went into research for treatment.
In July 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the cancellation of the planned £86,000 cap on personal care costs in England, a move that directly impacts families facing high costs for Alzheimer's and dementia care
In February 2025, Wes Streeting removed dementia diagnosis rate targets from the NHS Operational Planning Guidance for 2025-6.
Mr Frizell explained how scrapping those targets means there are less early diagnoses.
He said: 'The point is, if you're diagnosed early enough, all these treatments that are coming through, they're really only good if they can catch you early, a bit like cancer.
'You know, there's a much better chance of life, quality of life, if it can be caught early.
'If you get the diagnosis early, then you take away a lot of the cost of it, which are crazy costs, because one in four acute beds in NHS hospitals now are taken up by someone who's got dementia.'
Daily Mail has approached No10 for comment.
