Boris goes rogue

May exposed by NHS cash call

GIVEN THE scale of the daily pressures facing the NHS, there is a political case to be made for extra funding. The issue, however, is the modus operandi of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who tried to bounce the Cabinet into making an extra £100m a week available.

Rather than raising his concerns confidentially, and adhering to Cabinet collective responsibility, Mr Johnson and his aides chose to brief the media in advance about their intentions and splits in the Government. Not only does this reveal a lack of Cabinet discipline, and Theresa May’s inability to control those supposed colleagues who still have one eye on the Prime Minister’s job, but it will make it even harder for public money to be spent responsibly and for Labour’s ‘blank cheque’ approach to be resisted.

Even though Mr Johnson’s proposed £100m is just a fraction of the infamous £350m that he, and other Brexiteers, appeared to promise for the NHS during the EU referendum, due process still needs to be followed. It is for Chancellor Philip Hammond to look at departmental allocations during each spending review – and for the Department of Health to convince the Treasury that extra money will be spent wisely and not squandered on the NHS’s vast bureaucracy.

By going rogue just days after floating the idea of a ‘Boris bridge’ spanning the English Channel, the Foreign Secretary appears to have too much time spare on his hands. The problem is that he would have even more freedom to cause political mischief if he were relieved of his duties, a dilemma that makes the PM’s position all the more invidious.