STANLEY Johnson has come out fighting in support of his son Boris after the Prime Minister’s row with a Labour activist, saying the NHS will be better off after Brexit.
Boris Johnson, 55, was embroiled in a row with Omar Salem during a visit to Whipps Hospital in north-east London yesterday about the care of his seven-day old daughter who had “nearly died”.
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The PM’s father, 79, has now added his weight to the growing debate, telling Good Morning Britain his son should have told the left-winger that if opposition MPs stopped trying to obstruct leaving the EU then more funding might be available.
He told the show: “He might have said though he didn’t that if you’d got Brexit dealt with you’d have another 350m a week for the NHS.”
As part of the Vote Leave campaign ahead of the 2016 referendum Boris Johnson stood next to a red bus painted with the slogan: “We send the EU £350million a week, let’s fund our NHS instead.”
Critics of that campaign say it was inaccurate as the UK got some of the money back as a rebate.
Stanley Johnson added: “When you take on that sort of job you have to be able to take everything people throw at you.
I think he [Boris Johnson] is getting on fine everything is going completely smoothly as far as I can see
Stanley Johnson on his son
“I think he is getting on fine everything is going completely smoothly as far as I can see.”
The former Conservative MEP also lashed out at Remainer Dominic Grieve, who is behind an attempt to have the details of WhatsApp messages sent by the Prime Minister’s aides revealed.
Responding to a question about whether or not he knew his son’s “secret plan” for Brexit, Mr Johnson told the show: “You’ve got Dominic Grieve subpoenaing almost every communication of any sort.
“So I certainly wouldn’t admit any communication I get from my son because Grieve would be out there saying sorry you’ve got to reveal that in court.”
Mr Salem confronted the Prime Minister yesterday to give the Tory leader “a piece of my mind”.
He complained: “This ward is not safe for children. There are not enough doctors, nurses, it’s not well organised enough.
FATHER AND SON
“The NHS has been destroyed and now you come here for a Press opportunity.”
Mr Johnson bizarrely claimed “there’s no Press here” despite media filming the confrontation.
Mr Salem said: “What do you mean, who are these people?”
The Prime Minister then explained he was “here to find out” about the situation but Mr Salem said: “It’s a bit late isn’t it? Years and years and years of the NHS being destroyed.”
He was later revealed to have worked for Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. He has also been pictured alongside Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell at campaign events.
His Twitter profile says “campaigning against Brexit and for a socialist Europe”.
But a Number 10 source insisted his identity as a Labour activist “doesn’t change a thing,” adding: “He’s the parent of a child going through NHS treatment.
“If he’d been a Tory blue voting for ten years, if you’d a poor experience of your child in the NHS I’m pretty sure you’d feel the same way.”
Mr Johnson later tweeted: “I’ve been PM for 57 days, part of my job is to talk to people on the ground and listen to what they tell me about the big problems. It doesn’t matter if they agree with me.
“I’m glad this gentleman told me his problems. This isn’t an embarrassment this is part of my job.”
A spokesman said the man was understandably “very distressed” and the Prime Minister was “not going to hide away from those circumstances when he goes on these visits, and so obviously is keen to talk to people and empathise and see what he can do to help”.
The spokesman added: “It’s also a reminder of why exactly he is so keen to make the NHS a priority for funding.”
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