The businessman who resigned today from the board of NHS London after health secretary Andrew Lansley fulfilled promises to "rip up" plans to re-organise hospitals and build polyclinics, has denied falling out with politicians.

Gerry Acher, who lives in Cobham and is deputy director of Camelot Group which runs the lottery and is a former KMPG board member, was the second person to step down from the board of NHS London in one day, prompting reports of a clash.

He said: "There's no gossip. I'm not clashing with anybody. The role has changed. I have never met Andrew Lansley so I have no issue on that score."

He followed Sir Richard Sykes, the chairman of NHS London, out of the door after a halt was called to radical thinking which could have seen patients diverted from A+Es and surgery at Kingston Hospital and other hospitals across London.

In north London A+Es were threatened with closure as the NHS sought to make massive savings.

Asked if the cuts and re-organisation would return under Lansley's approach, he said: "I believe the Healthcare for London strategy was the right strategy and the way it was being approached was the right way but there's more than one way to skin a cat."

He said: "The new incoming government has come in to tackle healthcare in a different way than it has been tackled by NHS London which was very much a top-down approach.

"I was brought in last Autumn because of my skills in managing organisations through major change. Now it is all going to be organised totally differently there's no need to have my skills on that level."