‘I wouldn’t want the NHS if you handed it to us on a silver platter’

TRUMP DENIES CLAIMS OF HEALTH SERVICE SELL-OFF

DONALD Trump has insisted America wants “nothing to do with” the NHS amid claims that the health service could be used as a bargaining chip in post-Brexit trade talks.

The US president, speaking in London at the start of the Nato summit, claimed he would “stay out” of the General Election campaign because he does not want to “complicate it”.

But Mr Trump went on to describe Boris Johnson as “very capable” and said he would be meeting the Prime Minister during his visit to the UK.

In a breakfast meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the US ambassador’s residence in London, Mr Trump was asked if the NHS should be on the table in trade talks.

He replied: “No, not at all, I have nothing to do with it. Never even thought about it, honestly.”

The president added: “I don’t even know where that rumour started. Outcry

“We have absolutely nothing to do with it and we wouldn’t want to if you handed it to us on a silver platter. We want nothing to do with it.”

Mr Trump first sparked fears over his nation’s interest in the health service earlier this year when he said: “When you’re dealing in trade, everything is on the table.

“So NHS or anything else, a lot more than that, but everything will be on the table, absolutely.”

But he later performed a U-turn, amid a public outcry, to say that he does not see it as being “part of trade”.

Labour leader Jeremy

Corbyn has requested “reassurances” from Mr Trump that US negotiators would not look to push up UK medicine prices by seeking access to the NHS for pharmaceutical companies in the US.

Labour has repeatedly claimed that the health service is “on the table” in a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

Mr Trump said he could “work with anybody” when asked whether he could work with Mr Corbyn as prime minister, though earlier said he thought Mr Johnson would do a “good job”.

The PM said he was meeting all Nato leaders when asked whether he would be holding talks with Mr Trump.

Mr Johnson also said he could “categorically rule out” that “any part of the NHS will be on the table in any trade negotiations”.

JEREMY Corbyn said he is “very sorry” for “everything that has happened” in his party regarding antiSemitism after mounting criticism for his failure to personally apologise.

But he tempered his apology by claiming that others parties were infected with anti-Jew prejudice and that he had “dealt with” the problem in Labour.

The Labour leader was under fire after he refused four times to say sorry during an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil last week.

He was again repeatedly asked to apologise to the Jewish community for antiSemitism by party members during an interview with ITV’s This Morning.

Mr Corbyn said: “Our party and me do not accept anti-Semitism in any form.

“Obviously, I’m very sorry for everything that has happened.

“But I want to make this very clear: I am dealing with it, I have dealt with it, other parties are also affected by anti-Semitism.

“Candidates have been withdrawn by the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives and by us because of it.

“We just do not accept it in any form whatsoever.”

It follows intense criticism from within Labour ranks after Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said a “poison” – “sanctioned from the top” – had taken root in the party and suggested Mr Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister.

Corbyn ‘sorry’ over Jew hate (sort of...)