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David Davis backed a plan to sack more than 30,000 NHS workers. The Brexit Secretary also went along with making patients pay for hysterectomies, fitting braces to teeth and having tonsils out.

His views in 2011, when he was a Tory backbencher, were unearthed by pro- EU campaigners Vote Leave Watch.

The former Tory chairman co-edited The Future of Conservatism: Values Revisited with two other Tory MPs.

The chapter on healthcare, authored by wanabe Tory MP Julia Manning, endorsed a report by consultancy firm McKinsey calling for a 10 per cent cut in the NHS workforce, amounting at the time to 30,800 jobs.

(Image: Getty Images)

In his introduction Mr Davis, now 68, said the book was intended “to imagine the sort of country we want Britain to be in the coming decades”.

But Vote Lave Watch chair, Labour’s Chuka Umunna said: “Leave campaigners said Brexit would save our NHS, but every day we see how little they care about it.”