Jeremy Corbyn today unveiled 451 pages of uncensored documents which he claimed prove US officials put the NHS on the table in Brexit trade talks.

In a bombshell press conference, the Labour leader wafted a huge sheaf of leaked papers - saying Boris Johnson "tried to cover it up… but today it’s been exposed."

Mr Corbyn first showed heavily-redacted government documents, obtained by campaigners, relating to months of trade talks between the US and the UK.

But he then dramatically held up a second bundle - the uncensored versions.

It comes after weeks of denials from Boris Johnson, who claimed it was an "absolute invention", "completely untrue" and there were "no circumstances whatever" in which the NHS would be on the table in a post-Brexit trade deal.

The Tories today accused Jeremy Corbyn of lying as Mr Johnson said: "We are absolutely resolved that there will be no sale of the NHS, no privatisation. The NHS is not on the table in any way ... in no aspect whatever."

But Mr Corbyn declared: "These documents confirm the US is demanding the NHS is on the table in trade talks... These uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson ’s denials in absolute tatters".

The papers appear to be detailed "readouts" - briefings on what happened - on six rounds of talks held in London and Washington between July 2017 and July 2019.

(Image: Rob Pinney/LNP)

Crucially the documents show what US officials have demanded - not what the UK government has agreed to accept.

Asked if he had evidence that UK ministers agreed the NHS should be part of trade talks, Mr Corbyn did not provide any. Instead he said they "sanctioned" the talks more generally and were "aware" of them.

But one document quotes US Trade Representative director Thomas Fine (TF), saying officials have worked on a "baseline" assumption of "total market access" in the UK.

"The assumption is that everything is included unless something is explicitly excluded," he's quoted as saying. "The EU simply didn’t understand that."

Mr Fine's comments in the documents did not mention the NHS specifically.

But a second document, after a separate meeting, quotes the UK's lead negotiator as saying: "The impact of some patent issues raised on NHS access to generic drugs (i.e. cheaper drugs) will be a key consideration going forward."

Campaigners fear drugs prices could soar in a US trade deal if price controls are changed or removed. In 2017 pharmaceutical spending was £365 per person while in the US it was £946, according to the OECD.

And today the Mirror revealed UK trade minister George Hollingbery held a meeting with a US drugs giant last year, where they discussed “future trade” deals post-Brexit.

They met at pharma firm Eli Lilly at the firm’s US HQ in Indianapolis in August 2018 and discussed pricing controls, according to papers obtained under Freedom of Information law by campaign group Global Justice Now.

(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

The uncensored papers appear to have been uploaded by a Reddit user a month ago. It is not clear how they came to be obtained and analysed by Labour.

Talks were held between the UK's Department for International Trade and the US Trade Representative (USTR), according to the leaked documents.

The documents name a string of internal civil servants and details of negotiations and Labour did not publish them online in full.

After one meeting in July 2019, UK officials admitted the US were pushing for a no-deal Brexit to get more out of a trade deal with Britain.

The document says: "USTR were also clear that the UK-EU situation would be determinative: there would be all to play for in a No Deal situation.

"But UK commitment to the Customs Union and Single Market would make a UK-US Free Trade Agreement a non-starter."

One readout after a November 2017 meeting also said the US were insisting on a "ban" on any reference to climate change in a trade deal.

(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

It said: "US... responded emphatically that climate change is the most political (sensitive) question for the US, stating it is a ‘lightning rod issue’, mentioning that as of 2015, USTR are bound by Congress not to include mention of greenhouse gas emission reductions in trade agreements."

Talks also feature sectors including financial services, workers’ rights and even gender discrimination rules.

One document from November 2017 reveals the US agreed to "share their public lines" [a government term for media messaging] "on chlorine-washed chicken to help inform the media narrative around the issue."

It adds the US viewed any introduction of warning labels as "harmful rather than as a step to public health".

Yet the UK lead negotiator then commented that the atmosphere was "on all sides very positive" and "the UK delegation emphasised our position as being in listening mode".

The documents were handed out to journalists by NHS doctors and nurses today at the dramatic press conference.

(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

Jeremy Corbyn said: "The US is demanding that our NHS is on the table in negotiations for a toxic deal – it’s already being talked about in secret. That could lead to runaway privatisation of our health service."

Unions reacted almost instantly to the documents before they had been fully released to the public.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The Tories have no scruples about letting US firms get their hands on the NHS. The Conservatives started the process with the Health and Social Act and can’t be trusted with our precious health service.

“It will be crippled by these greedy corporations and their overpriced wares. The cost of drugs alone will soar by hundreds of millions of pounds a week."

TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes added: "This will serve as a wake up call for the British public – that this election is certainly not about Brexit but about saving our treasured National Health Service.

“Trump - keep your small, greasy fingers off our NHS. We have 15 days to save our NHS.”

(Image: PA)

A Department for International Trade spokesman refused to comment on leaks.

DIT sources said UK and US officials met to “build understanding of each other’s systems, laws and regulations”.

A government source said: “These were preliminary sessions, aimed at getting a clearer understanding of what each country’s respective policies and arrangements are. They should not be seen as anything more.”

The Tories said the documents only explicitly mentioned the NHS four times and bizarrely tried to link the "conspiracy theory" to anti-Semitism.

Trade Secretary Liz Truss 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.

(Image: Chris J Ratcliffe)

“People should not believe a word that he says - this stunt is simply a smokescreen for the fact that he has no plan for Brexit and that he has been forced to admit that he wants to increase taxes for millions of families.

“As we have consistently made clear: the NHS will not be on the table in any future trade deal and the price that the NHS pays for drugs will not be on the table. This sort of conspiracy theory fuelled nonsense is not befitting of the leader of a major political party.”

Today's big announcement came after a torrid day for Labour in which Jeremy Corbyn refused to apologise over anti-Semitism in the party, despite a condemnation from the Chief Rabbi.

At today's event, the Labour leader was asked again to apologise to the Jewish community for anti-Semitic incidents in the party.

Before he answered, shadow international development secretary Barry Gardiner, who was sat next to Mr Corbyn, said to the journalist who asked the question: "Do you have a question about the issue we are actually discussing today or was that just an opportune moment to get a dig in about something else?"

Mr Corbyn later said: "I have made it very clear anti-Semitism is completely wrong in our society, our party did make it clear when I was elected leader, and after, that anti-Semitism was unacceptable in any form in our party or our society.

"And did indeed offer its sympathies and apologies to those that had suffered."

Mr Corbyn said a Government with him in charge would be "the most anti-racist government you've ever seen".

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He added: "Because that is what I've spent my whole life doing - fighting against racism - and I will die fighting against racism."