Another Service from Boris

The Times leader concludes this morning

“Mr Johnson was right to drag the NHS to the top of the political agenda.  He has reminded No 10 that if it fails to persuade voters the service is safe in Tory hands a Corbyn government is all but guaranteed.  And he has reminded his party that it could be sleepwalking to disaster.”

But if the clamour for action is to be satisfied, at least in the short term, more money will be required (even if the actual benefits of extra expenditure in the current system, in terms of outcomes, is questionable).  From where would that extra money come? Philip Hammond made it quite clear that there was no spare cash around when he said, “Mr Johnson is the Foreign Secretary.  I gave the Health Secretary an extra £6 billion at the present budget and we will look at departmental allocations again in the spending review.”  Robbing Peter to pay Paul would not play well with a mounting movement to increase expenditure on defence and, in any case, would be unlikely to yield the mind-boggling sums required by the health service.  The Labour Magic Money Tree is probably off limits for Conservatives as is significant rises in taxation.  But there is a great deal that could be found in the folds of the Brexit sofa, £3-400 million a week according to the IFS recently, depending upon how you do the maths.

So, the Brexit Dividend could be spent could be spent at will and in advance of actual realisation (remember how the “Peace Dividend” was squandered shortly after the Berlin Wall came down). A political masterstroke which would completely undermine Labour’s bid in the emerging NHS pissing contest!

But I think there is more to Boris’ intervention than that.  The realisation of a "Brexit Dividend" would be contingent upon not paying vast membership fees to the EU in the future.  The fifth column of Remainers in the Government know that their cherished dream of remaining in the single market and customs union would cost us big time, maybe even more than we are paying at the moment.  Were the ignorant electorate to get wind of the easy way out of funding the health service, they may well decide to ignore the self-interested bleating of the likes of the CBI and that a clean break with Brussels was a price worth paying. And what a favour they would be doing us? Simultaneously, we should free ourselves from the straight-jacket of the ECJ and take control of who comes in and out of our independent country.  What we voted for in the first place, actually.  No surprises, then, at the vehemence of the attacks against Mr Johnson from his Cabinet colleagues who are beginning to show their true anti-Brexit colours.