“The NHS isn’t on the table in trade talks,” Matt Hancock, the health secretary, tweeted this week minutes after President Trump had said that it might be. The response was firm and reassuring, repeated by others before the president rowed back. Cue a collective sigh of relief that our beloved NHS is safe from grasping American interference. Only, of course, it isn’t.

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, was quick to point out one area where the NHS is already “on the table” — American companies can bid for contracts such as Babylon Health’s GP advice service — and another that is not. The United States wants the NHS to pay more for drugs and could try to incorporate