LABOUR has branded Boris Johnson a “disgrace of a man” and of hitting a “new low” after the Prime Minister initially refused to look at a picture of a four-year-old boy who had to wait four hours on a hospital floor and then five on a trolley before receiving medical treatment.
Interviewed by ITV while on a campaign trip to Grimsby, the Tory leader was asked about the plight of Jack Williment-Barr, suspected of having pneumonia, who was given an oxygen mask and had to endure almost 10 hours in the A&E department at Leeds General Infirmary before he received treatment at three in the morning. He was diagnosed with flu and tonsillitis and went home.
Earlier, asked if he had an apology for Jack and his family, Mr Johnson replied: "Yeah, I do, and this is exactly why we need to move on. We're putting £34 billion into the NHS now, this is the biggest investment we've seen in modern times but we need to drive it forward."
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Pressed further, he said: "Of course I sympathise very much and I apologise to everybody who has a bad experience."
But when later he was challenged on ITV, Mr Johnson admitted to not having seen the picture of Jack on a hospital floor, lying on a coat and wrapped in a blanket.
His interviewer tried to show him the picture of the boy on his mobile phone, the PM, looking pressured, refused to look at it and said he would do so later, putting the device in his pocket. When this was pointed out to viewers by ITV’s Joe Pike, the Tory leader removed it and looked at the screen.
He said: “It’s a terrible, terrible photo and I apologise obviously to the family and all those who’ve had terrible experiences in the NHS but what we are doing is supporting the NHS and, on the whole, patients in the NHS have on the whole have a much better experience than this poor kid has had.
Tried to show @BorisJohnson the picture of Jack Williment-Barr. The 4-year-old with suspected pneumonia forced to lie on a pile of coats on the floor of a Leeds hospital.
— Joe Pike (@joepike) December 9, 2019
The PM grabbed my phone and put it in his pocket: @itvcalendar | #GE19 pic.twitter.com/hv9mk4xrNJ
“That’s why we are making huge investments into the NHS and we can only do it if we get Parliament going, if we unblock the current deadlock and move forward.
“It would be totally wrong for this country to spend another year in paralysis, another year with no forward movement, and deadlock and division with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party; sorry Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon in coalition.”
He ended the interview by telling Mr Pike: “I’m sorry to have taken your phone. There you go. Thank you.”
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In response, Jonathan Ashworth for Labour 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," declared the Shadow Health Secretary.
His Shadow Cabinet colleague Angela Rayner said the clip of Mr Johnson was an "utter disgrace” while Mr Corbyn tweeted: "He just doesn't care."
Meanwhile, Tim Farron for the Liberal Democrats said: "This is the moment the mask slipped. When confronted with the human impact of his Government's failure to properly fund our NHS, Boris Johnson chose to look away.
"This shocking lack of empathy shows why Johnson is not fit be Prime Minister. He simply doesn't care about patients or their families being catastrophically let down by this Conservative government. It is unacceptable that hospitals are under so much pressure that they don’t have enough beds; especially for small children."
Philippa Whitford for the SNP said the Tory leader's reaction to the photo of four-year-old Jack showed why his party "cannot be trusted with the NHS".
The Nationalist candidate for Central Ayrshire said: “Attempting to turn a question about a child in pain to an answer about Brexit shows how little Boris Johnson and his right-wing Tories care about our people, our public services and in particular our NHS."
Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, was urgently dispatched to Leeds General Infirmary as the Tories came under increasing fire over Jack’s case.
It is believed he met the hospital's chief executive and afterwards said he was "horrified" by the boy's photograph and confirmed that he had apologised to his family.
"I have three small children myself. I have spent many evenings in A&E. I know what it feels like. I want to make it better," insisted Mr Hancock who was barracked by a small group of protesters as he left the hospital.
A planned tripped for Mr Johnson to visit a delicatessen in the Bishop Auckland area has been cancelled. A Tory official blamed Labour activists gathering outside the venue for the cancellation and said the decision was taken after receiving security advice.
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