In an new clip unearthed exclusively by The Red Roar, Boris Johnson calls for the privatisation of what he calls the “monolithic, monopolistic” NHS.

Boris Johnson called for the privatisation of what he called the “monolithic, monopolistic” NHS in an clip unearthed exclusively by The Red Roar.

Speaking in Parliament in 2002, Johnson said that government should examine “the experience of other countries that have a far better record of health care provision … because they do not rely exclusively on a top-down monopolistic health service of the kind we have in this country.”

Johnson was also critical of Labour’s decision to remove tax breaks for private healthcare, saying “people are being driven to use private medicine in despair at the NHS. There should be no shame in pointing that out.”

In an article for The Telegraph published the day after his speech, Johnson was even more explicit about what he thought made other countries’ healthcare better than the NHS: “They all have mixed systems, with a far higher proportion of private insurance.”

Far from being a one off, The Red Roar has found another ten examples of Johnson calling for NHS privatisation made over a number of years. They include his frank admission in his book Friends, Voters, Countrymen that “we need to think about new ways of getting private money into the NHS.”

It comes as Donald Trump flies in to the UK amid persistent concerns that Boris Johnson could sell off NHS services to private US firms in a future trade deal. Johnson has insisted that “our NHS will never be for sale”, but Donald Trump has said that “I think everything with a trade deal is on the table, when you’re dealing in trade everything is on the table, so NHS or anything else.”

Ten more times Boris Johnson backed NHS privatisation

“And this is not as trivial as it sounds, because we need to think about new ways of getting private money into the NHS. If you look at the countries that do better on cancer survival rates, and on coronary heart disease – countries such as Belgium, Germany or France – they do not rely on a monopoly state provider. They have a variety of systems – employer-based insurance schemes, employee-based insurance schemes, whatever; and they manage to spend more per capita on health, and to achieve better results, because they do not just rely on general taxation and spending – the first being electorally unpopular and the second being inefficient.” Boris Johnson, ‘Friends, Voters, Countrymen’, 17 June 2002, page 15, link

“Why shouldn’t the Tories continue to match Labour funding on the NHS, but try to find ways of bringing in additional, private money?” Boris Johnson, The Spectator, 12 May 2001, link

“Perhaps that extra money should come not just from taxation but from the kind of insurance-based schemes they have on the Continent.” Boris Johnson, The Spectator, 2 June 2001, link

“Of course it would be better if there were more choice in the NHS, and more opportunity to buy optional services – but that is another story.” Boris Johnson, The Telegraph, 20 December 2001, link

“At the risk of tempting him into a departure from Labour’s approved ideology, I invite him to agree that it shows what private enterprise can do in the field of health care.” Boris Johnson, Parliament, 2 July 2002, link

“One way or another, Gordon will have to give us our money back next week, in tax cuts or spending, and at last Labour seems to understand that the answer is not always and everywhere an expansion of the public sector. Look at the NHS, where ministers finally seem to accept – after abolishing tax breaks for private insurance and persecuting consultants in private practice – that private beds will be necessary to stave off a flu crisis this winter.” Boris Johnson, The Telegraph, 2 November 2000, link

“They don’t seem to have anything very interesting to say about the continuing crisis in the NHS, obsessed as they are with the monopolistic, top-down, state-driven solutions. They’re banishing the good consultants who want to do some private work, and they’ve done their best to make private health insurance unaffordable for the elderly.” Boris Johnson, The Telegraph, 7 December 2000, link

“One of the reasons why the NHS is no longer the envy of the world is that it is still top-down, statist and treats patients like serfs and dolts. To be fair to Blair and Labour, they recognise this, at least in their rhetoric. They talk endlessly about mixing in the private sector.” Boris Johnson, The Telegraph, 14 June 2001, link

“The result, after five years, is that we have what is in many ways a deteriorating health service, and an unhappy “Third Way” compromise between Prime Minister and Chancellor. Private firms are increasingly involved in NHS infrastructure projects, but the taxpayer picks up the tab.” Boris Johnson, The Telegraph, 5 December 2002, link