PM slaps down Boris over NHS

Row over his £5bn demand...but allies say he’ll keep speaking out

BORIS Johnson’s allies last night declared that he would continue to speak out on major political issues despite his dressing down by Theresa May and other Cabinet ministers.

During a stormy Cabinet meeting yesterday, the Foreign Secretary was given a firm rebuke after going public on his demand to use a ‘Brexit dividend’ to deliver an extra £5billion a year for the NHS.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the Cabinet it was vital that ministers were able to trust each other to keep discussions confiden- tial, adding: ‘I’m talking to you, Foreign Secretary.’ Climate change minister Claire Perry, a junior member of the Cabinet, was said to have accused Mr Johnson of ‘playing into Jeremy Corbyn’s hands’ by suggesting the NHS was underfunded.

Ministers also ruled out an immediate injection of cash for the NHS. But last night allies of the Foreign Secretary indicated he would continue to speak out on issues despite the Cabinet reprimand.

Sources confirmed that Mr Johnson will press ahead with a speech next month setting out the ‘liberal case for Brexit’. Downing Street sources indicated they had been given no clue as to the likely content of the speech.

Mr Johnson was blocked by Downing Street from making a speech on Brexit last autumn, prompting him to release it to the media in the form of a 4,000-word essay setting out his red lines ahead of Mrs May’s Florence speech on Brexit. Any new intervention could significantly raise tensions with Number 10 and Mr Johnson’s Cabinet detractors.

Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday made his irritation plain, publicly urging the Foreign Secretary to stick to his brief.

‘Mr Johnson is the Foreign Secretary,’ he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels. ‘I gave the Health Secre-

‘Playing into Corbyn’s hands’

tary an extra £6billion at the recent Budget and we will look at departmental allocations again at the spending review when that takes place.’

Treasury sources said it was ‘a matter of fact’ that the NHS has been promised an extra £9billion during the past year.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister had also highlighted the extra cash, adding that the NHS was already ‘one of the Government’s top priorities’.

And the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mrs May and a ‘large number’ of other ministers had told Mr Johnson that ‘Cabinet discussions should take place in private’.

In all, eight ministers are said to have criticised Mr Johnson’s decision to go public.

But some pro-Leave ministers, including Michael Gove and Chris Grayling, are said to have offered him their support on the issue of honouring the promises of extra cash for the NHS made by Vote Leave during the referendum campaign.

Allies of Mr Johnson insisted he had succeeded in putting the issue on the agenda after months of lobbying Mrs May in private.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister agreed that a future ‘Brexit dividend’ should be spent on ‘domestic priorities’, including housing, schools and the NHS.

But sources denied this was a concession to Mr Johnson – pointing out that she had said it before.

And, despite Mr Johnson’s intervention, there was little sign of an immediate breakthrough – with government sources saying there would be no new money for the NHS in Mr Hammond’s ‘mini-Budget’ in March, despite the winter crisis.

Sources said decisions on long-term NHS funding have been pushed back to a spending review likely to start in the middle of next year.