Jeremy Corbyn has sought to firm up the credibility of one of Labour’s most potent attack lines against the Conservatives by releasing a 451-page dossier giving details of what has been discussed in preliminary talks on a UK-US trade deal. At a dramatic press conference in London, where journalists were presented with copies of the document without warning, Corbyn said this was the evidence that left Boris Johnson’s claim the NHS was not under threat from a Trump trade deal “in tatters”. Corbyn explained:
We’ve now got evidence that under Boris Johnson the NHS is on the table and will be up for sale. He tried to cover it up in a secret agenda but today it’s been exposed.
Labour campaigners say the claim that a Tory Brexit would pose a threat to the NHS is one that resonates with voters and, with the polls suggesting that Johnson’s double-digit lead is holding up, Corbyn will have been hoping that this would be the bombshell that might (in the jargon) “move the dial”. Eight hours later, now that journalists have had time to study the contents of the documents (which it turns out were leaked and published on the internet some weeks ago), it turns out that the material is not quite as incriminating as Corbyn implied. The documents, which set out what has been said in talks between UK and US officials over the last two years scoping out the parameters for a trade deal, do not show that the government has agreed to anything that would let American corporations take over the NHS, or that would result in the NHS having to pay higher prices for drugs. But what the documents do confirm is that the Americans do have ambitions in these areas and that, despite ministers claiming that the NHS is “not on the table”, the healthcare sector has been discussed (albeit not extensively) in these preliminary trade talks. Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, accused Corbyn of lying about the document. In a statement she said:
Jeremy Corbyn is getting desperate and is out-and-out lying to the public about what these documents contain. He has always believed in conspiracy theories – which is why he has failed to crack down on the scourge of antisemitism in his party. This is the man that has caused huge offence by blaming an imaginary ‘Zionist lobby’ for society’s ills and now he has decided to smear UK officials too.
It is telling that Truss, and Johnson himself in his own response, seemed anxious to turn change the subject as quickly as possible (to antisemitism and Brexit respectively) and that strongly suggests that the Conservatives realise this is damaging, regardless of whether or not Corbyn may have over-sold the contents of his dossier. That is because in the end what would be decided in a UK-US trade deal would depend on the political dynamics at the end of the talks (not on anything in this 451-page bundle) and any judgment that voters make at this point will be a matter of trust. Any government would think twice before signing a trade deal that would imperil the NHS, because that would be politically toxic. But voters who keep hearing Johnson say that he would not put the NHS on the table in a trade deal may remember that he also made assurances to the DUP about not accepting a customs border down the Irish Sea that he merrily abandoned 12 months later. If ultimately this is a matter of trust, Johnson and the Tories are vulnerable.
Meanwhile:
Boris Johnson has apologised for Islamophobia within the Conservative party as a Tory candidate accused the prime minister of fanning the flames of anti-Muslim prejudice. Johnson is willing to apologise for the actions of others in this regard. However, as viewers of Question Time witnessed on Friday, he is not so keen to apologise for what he has done himself.
The BBC has revealed that Boris Johnson has yet to agree a date for an interview with Andrew Neil, prompting speculation that he might try to get through the campaign without submitting himself to scrutiny from the most aggressive and formidable interviewer on TV. Tory sources will just say discussions about a date are “ongoing”. Sadly, if Johnson were to duck the Neil challenge, that would be a constitutional outrage that even the supreme court couldn’t overturn.
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