Boris Johnson "would walk out of US trade talks" if they demand NHS access
29 November 2019, 09:32 | Updated: 29 November 2019, 10:29
Boris Johnson has repeated his pledge that the NHS is not for sale under the Tories in an exclusive interview with LBC.
- Boris Johnson's LBC phone-in: Watch in full
Boris Johnson was taking questions from Nick Ferrari and listeners when he said the NHS is not up for grabs, a key part of Jeremy Corbyn’s general election campaign.
Mr Johnson said: “The NHS is not for sale and under no circumstances would this government or any conservative government do anything to put the NHS up for negotiation in trade talks or privatising - anything like that.
"Were the United States or any other country to insist on that as a condition of talks, we would simply walk out.”
Pressed by a listener whether he would choose between delivering Brexit or being Prime Minister, Mr Johnson said he would rather take Britain out of Europe.
Mr Johnson also refused to be drawn on what he said to Jacob Rees-Mogg after his controversial remark about the victims of the Grenfell fire where he suggested they lacked common sense for not ignoring the London Fire Brigade's advice to stay put during the blaze in which 72 people died.
Pressed by a listener whether he would choose between delivering Brexit or being Prime Minister, Mr Johnson said he would rather take Britain out of Europe.
Mr Johnson also refused to be drawn on what he said to Jacob Rees-Mogg after his controversial remark about the victims of the Grenfell fire where he suggested they lacked common sense for not ignoring the London Fire Brigade's advice to stay put during the blaze in which 72 people died.
Mr Johnson said Mr Rees-Mogg was "campaigning actively around the country".
Asked if he spoke to Mr Rees-Mogg about his comments on Grenfell, Mr Johnson said: "I'm not going to go into my conversations with colleagues."
On whether he will appoint Mr Rees-Mogg in his cabinet following the election, Mr Johnson said: "I'm not going to get into measuring the curtains-type conversations."
Challenged on not delivering the Garden Bridge project as London Mayor, Mr Johnson said: "Since you raise the Garden Bridge in the way that you always do, I will point out that it was a viable project.
"We left it in good effect. The current Mayor of London, I might remind you, invested a further £17 million of taxpayers' money in the Garden Bridge before himself deciding wrongly in my view to cancel it."
