Tory minister admits authoring pamphlet pushing privatisation of NHS hospitals

Dominic Raab has admitted co-authoring a pamphlet that advocated increased privatisation of the NHS, as he was challenged on the contentious issue in a live radio interview.

Despite appearing as one of five authors of the 147-page publication in 2011, the foreign secretary insisted the section on opening up the health service to private providers “certainly wasn’t anything I wrote”.

It comes as Labour continues to pile the pressure on the Conservatives over their post-Brexit plans for the NHS, accusing the government of wanting to sell off the health service to the US president Donald Trump.

The pamphlet said the “current monolith” of the NHS should be “broken up”, adding: “Hospitals should be given their independence, extending the Foundation Hospital model - initially controversial but now almost universally accepted.

“New non-profit and private operators should be allowed into the service, and, indeed should compete on price.”

It added: “Across the world, countries with more competition, such as Germany and Switzerland, tend to be more efficient. Two-thirds of German hospitals are run privately or not-for-profit.”

Challenged over the comments in the pamphlet on Radio 4’s Today programme – and a section advocating a health service where two-thirds of hospitals are run privately or not-for-profit – Mr Raab replied: “No, it’s not true.”

He went on: “You’ve picked probably a snippet from a pamphlet written a long time ago, but I can tell you categorically I’ve never advocated privatisation of the NHS.

“Yes I co-authored, I think there were five us in total,” he added.

Defending the book, Mr Raab said: “When you go into your average hospital, you see a Costa Coffee there, you see a florist there. Is anyone seriously suggesting that the nurses, the doctors, the civil servants in the Department for Health should be running those services. That’s wholesale different from clinical services.”

Pressed again on the book specifically mentioning hospitals, he added: “Well it certainly wasn’t anything I wrote, and it’s certainly nothing I advocate.”

The author’s of the 147-page publication – After the Coalition – also included four other Conservative MPs, and two, Piti Patel and Lizz Truss, who are also cabinet minister’s in Boris Johnson’s administration.

Tom Brake, the shadow Liberal Democrat Brexit secretary, said: “It would be appear Dominic Raab has chosen to take a play straight from the Johnson/Trump playbook.

“To claim he has never advocated privatisation of the NHS is distorting the truth at best.”

Speaking as Mr Trump arrived in London for the NATO summit, the cabinet minister also insisted the NHS would not be on the table in post-Brexit trade negotiations with the US president.

“We’ve been absolutely clear there is going to be no privatisation of the NHS under the Conservative’s watch or this prime minister’s watch,” he said. “In relation to drugs, there is going to be no dilution of our protection of consumers in this country.

“Obviously we want the cheapest and highest quality medicines coming into the NHS – there’s going to be no dilution of our position on that.”

In a joint appearance with the NATO general secretary Mr Trump later insisted the NHS would not be discussed. “No, not at all, I have nothing to do with it,” he said. “Never even thought about it honestly.”

“I don’t even know where that rumour started. We have absolutely nothing to do with it and we would want to if you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it,” the president added.