LiveUpdated
Monday 9 December 2019 18:12
Boris Johnson has come under fire for failing to address a shocking image of a four-year-old boy forced to sleep on a NHS hospital floor – snatching the phone of a reporter attempting to show the image to him and putting it in his pocket.
Labour condemned the prime minister for saying he would “study [the picture] later” of Jack Williment-Barr, who was left languishing in a corridor at Leeds General Infirmary while waiting treatment for suspected pneumonia.
It comes as Mr Johnson faces a backlash over his remarks about EU citizens being able to “treat the UK as if it’s part of their own country”.
Meanwhile, John McDonnell unveiled Labour plans to begin nationalising utility companies within 100 days, while the DUP leader Arlene Foster said the prime minister “broke his word” that the Brexit deal would not include a customs border in the Irish Sea.
Voter accuses Boris Johnson of lying after he denies knowing about fake website set up by Tories to trick public
A young mother has accused Boris Johnson of lying after he told her he knew nothing about a fake Labour website set up by the Conservatives to trick voters.
Page Hood – who also said she was “scared” about the state of the NHS after five-hour waits with her sick son in A&E – confronted the prime minister on the campaign trail over election dirty tricks.
Her accusation follows widespread criticism of the Tories for paying Google to promote the website labourmanifesto.co.uk – which in fact pumped out Mr Johnson’s policies and attacks Mr Corbyn’s.
Police ‘unaware of reports’ protesters punched Matt Hancock’s adviser at a Yorkshire hospital
West Yorkshire Police have put out a statement following allegations on social media that a Tory adviser was attacked by demonstrators at Leeds General Infirmary this afternoon.
Matt Hancock apologises to family of 4-year-old boy forced to sleep on hospital floor
The health secretary told the BBC: “It’s not good enough and I’ve apologised. I think the trust have handled it very well. The staff here have been brilliant.
“Jack’s family have been at pains to point out that the staff have been absolutely superb.”
Asked why he made the visit to the hospital on Monday when it was not on his schedule for the day, Mr Hancock said: “I’ve come because … I wanted to get reassurance from the trust that they’re doing everything they can. I’ve been very impressed with the response of the trust.”
Health secretary faced with protesters shouting ‘shame on you’ at Leeds General Infirmary
Matt Hancock was met with shouts of ‘shame on you’ by protesters as he left the Leeds General Infirmary earlier today. The health secretary was sent to the hospital after Boris Johnson pocketed the phone of an ITV reporter who was attempting to show him a picture of a 4-year-old boy sleeping on the floor while waiting for treatment.
On the visit, Mr Hancock said he was “horrified” by the photograph of four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr on the floor of Leeds General Infirmary.
He told the BBC: “To tell you the truth, I was horrified.
“I have three small children myself. I have spent too many evenings in A&E. I know what it feels like.
“I want to make it better.”
The photo of an NHS in crisis that Boris Johnson refused to look at… but millions of voters now will
Image of sick young boy sleeping on clinic floor could become election’s pivotal moment, health correspondent Shaun Lintern writes.
Read his column here:
‘There will be checks’: Ireland intervenes after Boris Johnson accused of lying to voters about Brexit deal
Ireland’s government has stepped in to clarify the Brexit deal after Boris Johnson was accused of misleading voters over the nature of his agreement.
The prime minister had claimed that there would be no checks or controls on the Irish Sea under the treaty he negotiated with Brussels – at odds with the facts.
Mr Johnson was accused of lying to voters after he repeatedly insisted that there would be no checks, despite the deal’s actual content.
Election hustings called off after Tories threaten to report Girl Guide hall to charity bosses
A furious row has broken out in general election hotspot Beaconsfield after a hustings was called off at the last minute following a threat from Conservatives to report the Girl Guide hall where it was being staged to the Charity Commission.
The meeting – in a seat where former attorney general Dominic Grieve is challenging Tories after being thrown out of the party over his opposition to a no-deal Brexit – was hastily reorganised to go ahead in a local pub.
But Mr Grieve said that the intervention was “not in the spirit of democratic debate”.
PM campaign visit cancelled due to protesters
Journalists travelling with Boris Johnson on the campaign trail today say the next stop has been cancelled due to protesters.
Mr Johnson was due to visit a deli in the Bishop Auckland area. A Tory official blamed Labour activists gathering outside the venue for the cancellation and said the decision was taken after receiving security advice.
Health secretary sent to calm anger over ill child sleeping on floor in Yorkshire hospital
Matt Hancock is apparently being despatched to Leeds General Infirmary amid a row over the plight of 4-year-old Jack Williment-Barr.
The cabinet minister is being briefed on four-year-old Jack’s case and will meet the hospital’s chief executive.
Boris Johnson takes private jet to fly 25 minutes from Doncaster to Darlington, despite train taking just 53 minutes
Boris Johnson has been criticised after using a private jet to fly from Doncaster to Darlington – a journey that takes less than an hour by train.
The prime minister took the plane as he embarked on a tour of marginal constituencies in the north east three days before the general election.
Doncaster and Darlington are connected by a direct train route that takes 53 minutes, but the prime minister instead opted for a 25-minute flight.
PM ‘doesn’t care about anyone other than himself’, say Lib Dems
PM challenged on Tories’ ‘fake’ website
Boris Johnson was gets challenged about a “fake” website set up by Conservatives to counter Labour’s manifesto by a worker at the tyre factory in Washington, near Sunderland.
Page Hood later told reporters later she was not impressed by the prime minister’s “empty” response (he said he didn’t know anything about it, and said it was “certainly” possible to read the Labour manifesto online).
set up a website that purported to contain Labour’s pledges in a bid to trick voters looking for the document.
‘We’ve got an openly racist and homophobic prime minister,’ says League Two club owner
Dale Vince, the owner of League Two side Forest Green Rovers, has been talking about racism in football live on Sky Sports – and offered strong criticism of Boris Johnson.
“I think it’s important that we recognise some of this is endorsed and empowered by what’s happening in politics, by what politicians are saying.
“We’ve got an openly racism and homophobic prime minister – and I think that encourages people to be more openly racist and homophobic in wider life.”
Wind, rain and snow forecast for polling day
Voters seeking to cast their ballots this week will have to brave the elements, as polling day is forecast to be wet and windy across the country.
Gusts of up to 30mph will batter Britain on Thursday as the country heads to the polls for the first December general election in almost 100 years.
An area of low pressure will bring outbreaks of rain to all parts of the UK throughout the day – with particularly heavy downpours expected to hit the south and south west.
Snow could fall in mountainous areas of Scotland, while the rest of the country is likely to see temperatures of around 10C to 12C.
Speaking of snow, Nicola Sturgeon is on the SNP’s battle bus near Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands.
Boris Johnson suggests TV licences unsustainable
The prime minister has said he is “certainly looking at” abolishing all TV licences.
Asked whether a Tory government would abolish TV licence fees for everybody following his speech in the north-east, Johnson said: “Well, I don’t think at this late stage in the campaign I’m going to make an unfunded spending commitment like that, but what I certainly think is that the BBC should cough up and pay for the licences for the over-75s as they promised to do.
“But at this stage we are not planning to get rid of all TV licence fees, though I am certainly looking at it.”
He added: “But you have to ask yourself whether that kind of approach to funding a TV, a media organisation still makes sense in the long-term given the way other organisations manage to fund themselves – that’s all I will say.
“I think that the system of funding by what is effectively a general tax, isn’t it, everybody has a TV, it bears reflection – let me put it that way.
“How long can you justify a system whereby everybody who has a TV has to pay to fund a particular set of TV and radio channels – that is the question.”
‘Disgrace of a man’: Labour reacts to PM’s interview
More reaction to Boris Johnson’s repeated refusal to look at a photo of four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr, forced to sleep on a hospital floor.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Refusing to even look at an image of a child suffering because of Conservative cuts to the NHS is a new low for Boris Johnson. It’s clear he could not care less.
“Don’t give this disgrace of a man five more years of driving our NHS into the ground. Sick toddlers like Jack deserve so much better.”
In the clip of the interview posted on Twitter, ITV’s Joe Pike said to Johnson: “You refuse to look at the photo. You’ve taken my phone and put it in your pocket prime minister.”
Johnson then took the phone out of his pocket, looked at the photo on the screen, and said: “It’s a terrible, terrible photo. And I apologise obviously to the families and all those who have terrible experiences in the NHS.”
PM grilled on why he ‘struggled’ to look at photo of sick boy
Laura Kuenssberg has asked Boris Johnson (answering questions in Washington, near Sunderland) about why he “struggled” to look at a photo of four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr, forced to sleep on a hospital floor.
“Well I’m very proud to have invested in Leeds General Infirmary, and it’s one of the hospitals that we will rebuild … it will be a fantastic project,” he replied before going on to talk about his party’s investment plans for the NHS.
He is asked again why he couldn’t look at the photo and took away a reporter’s phone, and what it said about how much he really cared, Johnson said: “I think I’ve answered that question,” he replied, before again talking about investment.
‘We don’t want Boris’: Boris Johnson booed in north-east
Labour activists booed as Boris Johnson arrived for a north-east campaign visit. A man on a megaphone could be heard saying: “We don’t want Boris in the north east of England.”
The PM was given a tour of Fergusons Transport, near Washington, and shown some tyres. “This would fit on my Toyota,” Johnson said.
‘Appalling … bananas’: Reaction to PM’s extraordinary interview
Some more reaction to that astonishing ITV interview with Boris Johnson – during which he repeatedly refused to look at a photo of a sick, four-year-old boy sleeping on a hospital floor.
ITV’s Robert Peston said “it could be the moment of the campaign”. The Labour supporting commentator Ellie Mae O’Hagan said it was “genuinely bananas”.
The former Tory MP Anna Soubry said it was “appalling,” with Labour’s Andy McDonald called it an “utter disgrace.”
The comedian David Schneider said: “Can there be a clearer demonstration of the Tories trying to hide the reality of the NHS from us than Johnson grabbing a phone with a photo of a 4-year old forced to sleep on an A&E floor and trying to hide it?”
Labour peer Stewart Wood said: ““You’ve refused to see the photo, you’ve taken my phone and put it in your pocket prime minister,” is now my most memorable interviewer’s remark of the campaign.”
‘I can’t comment either way on a situation in Leeds,’ says Tory candidate
Conservative candidate Paul Scully was asked for his reaction to the photo of a four-year-old boy, with suspected pneumonia, sleeping on a hospital floor.
Scully told BBC Politics Live: “It’s terrible. No-one should have to undergo that level of service, as it were, in a hospital.”
Asked whether he’d like to apologise for what happened to Jack Williment-Barr or his family at Leeds General Infirmary, he says: “I can’t comment either way on a situation in Leeds from one single photo. I just want to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”
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