Boris Johnson Reminded By Philip Hammond He Is Not The Health Secretary After NHS Cash Demands

Boris set to use Cabinet meeting to demand more funding for the health service.
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Boris Johnson has been rebuked by Philip Hammond after he let it be known he wanted more money to be given to the NHS.

The foreign secretary is expected to use a Tuesday Cabinet meeting to demand £100m extra a week for the health service after Brexit.

But ahead of the meeting, the chancellor told Johnson to to stick to his brief. “Mr Johnson is the foreign secretary,” the Hammond said.

Johnson made clear last week he thinks the health service should be “at the very top of the list” when the UK “takes back control” of money which would have been sent to Brussels as a member.

He is set to use Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, when Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will update ministers on the NHS winter crisis, to demand around £5bn a year extra for the health service.

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Philip Hammond has given Boris Johnson a rebuke for raising the prospect of more money for the NHS
PA Wire/PA Images

The foreign secretary last week claimed the Vote Leave campaign, which he helped lead, underestimated when it claimed Brexit would allow an extra £350m to be spent on the NHS weekly.

Several high profile Tory MPs yesterday warned Theresa May she risked losing the next election unless she moved to fix problems in the NHS.

Asked about Johnson’s expected call for more money for the health service, Hammond told reporters in Brussels this morning: “Mr Johnson is the foreign secretary. I gave the health secretary an extra £6bn at the recent budget and we will look at departmental allocations again at the spending review when that takes place.”

Nick Timothy, May’s former chief of staff, also used Twitter to criticise Johnson for leaking his demands.

Sir Nicholas Soames is the latest Tory backbencher to voice unease about the style of the Prime Minister’s administration, after former minister Nick Boles warned of “timidity and lack of ambition”.

Using one of the extended hashtags which have become his social media trademark, Sir Nicholas asked: “Where’s the bold and brave? So far, it’s dull, dull, dull.”

Asked about the concerns expressed by Boles and Sir Nicholas, May’s official spokesman said on Monday: “If you look at action taken by the Government in recent months, you can see it is getting on with the job of building a stronger economy and a fairer society that works for everyone.”