PM appears to be in campaign mode as he is filmed at a prison, and also visits a hospital

Boris Johnson appeared to be in election campaign mode on a “splash and selfie tour”, as he flew to Yorkshire to visit a prison and hospital.

The prime minister took an RAF flight to Leeds for a one-day trip after announcing a boost to funding for security in prisons, amid heavy speculation he wants to promote the Conservatives as a party of law and order before fighting an election on populist ground.

He also spoke to Conservative members in Leeds, fuelling suspicions he is readying his party to go to the polls.

While in the city, he talked up the chances of the UK getting “a great trade deal” with the US, while acknowledging it would be a “tough old haggle”.

In comments reminiscent of his claims during the Vote Leave campaign, he also heralded the opportunities for selling haggis to America.

“I want to see trade with our European neighbours, and I want to see trade with countries around the world,” he told Sky News.

“We have fantastic opportunities to open that up. Actually the US market is growing very fast for the UK, but they still ban haggis, for heaven’s sake.

“In the US there are all sorts of opportunities we have to open up trade, but that also goes for companies around the world, but the single biggest deal we need to do is a free-trade deal agreement with our friends and partners over the Channel.

“In my experience, the Americans are very tough negotiators indeed and we will do a great deal with them and it will open up opportunities for businesses, particularly services companies in the US. It will be a tough old haggle but we’ll get there.”

UK cabinet ministers have previously asked the US to overturn a ban on haggis exports with no success and the market is only thought to be worth around £15m in the UK.

Johnson was asked about the path to a US trade deal after John Bolton, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, on Monday promised the UK would be “first in line” for a deal with the US, possibly on a gradual “sector-by-sector” basis. Experts have since warned that the US will make huge demands in return.

Lewis Lukens, who served as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in London until earlier this year, said Bolton might be publicly saying the UK should prioritise Brexit but pressure will be being exerted behind the scenes for the UK to “get on board” with US policy on China, Iran and trade.

A senior Trump administration official told Reuters that the UK and US were working on a partial deal to be ready by 1 November and the trade secretary, Liz Truss, said the two countries were working on a quick agreement but critics were sceptical that anything would pass Congress in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty asked Truss: “Do you actually have any idea how trade policy works with the US? There’s a thing called Congress. Even if John Bolton was in charge – which he isn’t – perhaps you ought to remind yourself of his ‘America first’ agenda?”

Johnson’s visit to the Leeds prison – the first time a Conservative prime minister has been to a jail in seven years – also involved examining body scanners that detect contraband ingested by prisoners.

The prime minister was filmed saying “you’re joking” and shaking his head as he was shown a scan of a prisoner who had hidden a Kinder egg full of drugs inside their body.

The visit followed his announcement that £100m would be spent on improving security in jail with more airport-style technology, including x-ray scanners and metal detectors. Labour said the measures fell “woefully short” of what was needed to make the UK’s prisons safe as they face an “emergency caused by austerity”.

Johnson’s prisons announcement was one of a series of home affairs announcements in recent days, following No 10’s focus last week on NHS funding. The prime minister is understood to have visited a Leeds hospital as well but that visit appeared to be closed to the media.

No 10 civil servants could not confirm that Johnson had been to a hospital and met Conservative members on Tuesday, as the prison visit was the only official engagement and he had otherwise been making private and political visits.

A senior Conservative source denied that Johnson was engaged in laying the ground for an election, insisting that his trip to Leeds was about setting out his domestic agenda before Brexit takes centre stage in the autumn.

The former cabinet minister Damian Hinds accidentally posted a picture of his email inbox on the internet with a message from his local party talking about “GE19”, showing MPs are already beginning to prepare for the possibility of going to the polls.

Suspicions about an election have been intensified by the amount of time Johnson is spending away from Downing Street on visits that allow for photo opportunities to drive home his messages, while his adviser, Dominic Cummings, and senior minister, Michael Gove, take control of planning for a no-deal Brexit.

Jill Rutter, director of the Institute for Government, warned on Tuesday that people should not let Johnson off the hook on Brexit by focusing too much on how Cummings is trying to foil MPs stopping a no deal.

“Since the new government took over, all the excitement has been generated by one figure: Rasputin, Svengali, consigliere, ‘vanguard and as yet sole member of the gilet noir’, Dominic Cummings,” she wrote in a blog.

“And instead of legislature versus executive, the autumn showdown has become Dominic Cummings versus Dominic Grieve…

“The image of hardman Cummings whipping Whitehall into shape, while a beaming Johnson is on a splash and selfie tour on a virtual battle bus, suits both parties – but no one should fall for it. There is only one person in charge, and that is emphatically not Dominic Cummings.”

She said too much focus on Cummings “means too little focus on the way Johnson wants his government run”.

“Whatever the appearances to the contrary, this is Johnson’s government, not Cummings’. And it is Johnson who should be held responsible for every decision it makes,” Rutter said.