Boris Johnson will seek to downplay his relationship with president Donald Trump at this week’s Nato meeting, amid Labour’s accusations that a US-UK trade deal will lead to an NHS sell-off and higher drug prices for Britons.
As the US president landed at London Stansted just before 10pm on Monday and disembarked with his wife, Melania, Conservative strategists were hoping Trump would not add fuel to accusations that the US will seek to profit from the NHS as the price for any trade deal.
Johnson has made clear that he would not welcome any input from Trump into the election debate at such a sensitive time in the campaign, after the US president offered him his endorsement over the summer.
There is nervousness within the Conservative campaign about Trump’s unpredictability, as he has a full two days in the UK and is expected to give a press conference on Wednesday.
Johnson said last week that “close friends and allies” like the UK and the US should not get involved in each other elections.😯🤔As Trump landed on Monday night, Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the US president demanding assurances that any trade deal would exclude any
reference to pharmaceuticals and accept the role of the UK’s drugs watchdog in setting the threshold for the cost-effectiveness of drugs for the NHS.He also requested that the US drop the demand for “total market access” to UK public services and rule out any investor-state
dispute settlement mechanism by which the UK government could be sued for protecting public services. Corbyn also wrote to the prime minister urging him to break off trade talks with Trump until any reference to pharmaceuticals is struck out of Washington’s negotiating objectives
