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Boris Johnson was forced to squirm as This Morning host Phillip Schofield reeled off a list of NHS services where US firms have already bought in.

The Tory leader repeated his claim that the Health Service would not be on the table in any trade talks with the United States after Brexit .

But he looked to his feet, shifting his weight on the This Morning sofa, as the broadcaster listed a string of US interests in the NHS - declaring: "You're already doing it."

He asked for Mr Johnson's "absolute, rock solid guarantee" that "no part of the NHS will be sold off."

Mr Johnson said it would not.

Mr Schofield went on: "American companies providing about 13% of in-patient beds in England, Manchester. One in four beds provided by an American-owned company in Bristol, North Somerset, Gloucestershire."

(Image: ITV)

He went on: "Three fifths of mental healthcare beds are owned by American companies. Cygnet runs eight mental health settings judged inadequate by the Care Quality Commission watchdog.

"£13.8 billion was spent on the NHS on mental healthcare. £1.8 billion of this went to private sectors, including American firms.

"You're already doing it."

Mr Johnson replied: "The biggest privatisation of the NHS went under Labour when they put in the PFI scheme. That was in my view - and I go round hospitals which are saddled with debt.

"They have to pay back to banks at excruciating rates because of Labour's PFI deals."

(Image: ITV)

While it's true that the Blair Labour government vastly expanded PFI use in the NHS, the claim Labour "put in" the scheme is false.

PFI was introduced under John Major's Conservative administration.

But Schofield wasn't done.

(Image: ITV)

He shot back: "Just this week we heard the story of a schizophrenic man who killed his father days after being mistakenly released from a Cygnet private hospital."

Mr Johnson failed to address the question, saying: "Well, obviously we have challenges with mental health care.

"And the NHS as a whole is doing an amazing job. That's why we want to make sure that we invest massively in mental healthcare as well as physical wellbeing."

This week the Mirror revealed US healthcare firms had been 'planting seeds' in the NHS since 2016.

US President Donald Trump used a visit to London to insist he did not want to prey on our treasured health service.

But just six months earlier he boasted that “everything is on the table”, including healthcare, during post-Brexit trade talks.