Mr Howard said he would scrap NHS targets to free up staff to fight the bug.
Mr Outterson is sceptical about Mr Howard's claims that the deal will not raise drug prices.
Mr Howard was famed for the unapologetic harshness of his approach to law and order.
Mr Howard exploited public anxiety about boat arrivals to help win an election in 2001.
Mr Blair, Mr Howard and Mr Berlusconi all face divided and weak political opposition.
Against a seasoned campaigner such as Mr Howard, this is still a tough job.
But the governor-general affair has highlighted Mr Howard's flawed judgment as much as Mr Hollingworth's.
Mr Howard's enemies hope that he will follow Spain's Popular Party into Iraq-induced electoral oblivion.
ECONOMIST: Iraq, the economy and honesty will dominate the campaign
Sir Donald was Mr Howard's perfect Australian, anti-republican, admirer of royalty and politically a conservative.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, none of them named by Mr Howard, responded angrily.
Instead, Mr Howard produced a ten-point plan that almost, but not quite, met their demand.
It may be enough to make Mr Howard go to the country in October.
GST, Mr Howard has cast the die for tax to be a big election issue.
Wiping out Mr Howard's comfortable margin in his own seat will be a tall order.
ECONOMIST: John Howard is facing attacks from unexpected corners
Mr Valder wants the Liberal Party to stay in power, but without Mr Howard as leader.
ECONOMIST: John Howard is facing attacks from unexpected corners
Mr Howard proposes income-tax cuts financed by a new 10% tax on goods and services.
Mr Howard likes to claim much of the credit for the current health of the economy.
ECONOMIST: Australia's election: A prime minister with nine lives | The
Mr Howard's handling of both this affair and an earlier one has reawakened doubts about his leadership.
As home secretary in the last Conservative government, Mr Howard willingly became the stuff of liberal nightmares.
After 11 years in power, Mr Howard is facing the worst opinion polls of his prime ministership.
But the luck may not last for the whole of Mr Howard's next three years in office.
ECONOMIST: Australia's election: A prime minister with nine lives | The
Now, with a general election possibly only a year away, the real hard slog starts for Mr Howard.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Politics | Howard's 100 day anniversary hope
"Unless we get concessions on the agriculture front, the trade agreement is not worth signing, " Mr Howard said.
Mr Howard's attack had been "ceaselessly negative" he said, constantly running down the NHS and the education system.
Mr Howard is backed by several former ministers, including Virginia Bottomley, Francis Maude, David Maclean and David Davis.
In the late 1990s, Mr Howard adroitly saw off a xenophobic challenge from Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.
But for most of Mr Howard's nine years in office, productivity-boosting reform has been on the back burner.
Mr Howard is a marvellously effective House of Commons performer who frequently discomforts the bulldozing chancellor, Gordon Brown.
In doing so, the Liberals buried the rigid policy agenda that marked Mr Howard's 11 years in power.
By effectively blowing the whistle on the operation, Mr Howard has made himself unpopular with some police chiefs.
ECONOMIST: John Howard wants more police power to fight terrorism
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