Theresa May has warned ministers that Cabinet discussions should remain private as Boris Johnson mounted a fresh push for extra spending for the NHS.
The Foreign Secretary let it be known that he intended to use the weekly meeting of the Cabinet to press for an additional £5 billion for the NHS after Britain leaves the EU.
But as ministers gathered in No 10, he was pre-empted by the Prime Minister who told the meeting any “Brexit dividend” would be allocated according to the Government’s priorities – including schools and housing as well as health.
Boris Johnson arrives at Downing Street for the Cabinet meeting |(Stefan Rousseau/PA)
In the hour-long discussion that followed, there appeared to be exasperation at Mr Johnson’s latest intervention with ministers backing Mrs May’s view that their talks should stay confidential.
“The Prime Minister and a large number of ministers made the point that Cabinet discussions should remain private,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
The spokesman said that while most members had contributed to the discussion, no minister had mentioned a “specific number in relation to NHS funding”.
Earlier Mr Johnson’s intervention drew a withering rebuke from Chancellor Philip Hammond who made clear the NHS was not his department.
“Mr Johnson is the Foreign Secretary,” he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.
“I gave the Health Secretary an extra £6 billion at the recent Budget and we will look at departmental allocations again at the spending review when that takes place.”
There was an angry response also from some Tory MPs, with former minister Anna Soubry warning Mrs May he would bring her down unless she sacked him.
The row broke out amid signs of growing frustration among some backbenchers at the Government’s performance prompting renewed speculation that the Foreign Secretary was “on manoeuvres”.
Last week he again drew attention to his controversial claim during the EU referendum that leaving the bloc would release an additional £350 million a week to spend on the NHS, claiming the figure was actually an underestimate.
Ms Soubry, a prominent pro-EU campaigner, said the time had come for the Prime Minister to get rid of him.
He had shown “longstanding incompetence and disloyalty” and unless Mrs May acts now “Boris will bring her down”, she said.
Mrs May’s former chief of staff Nick Timothy hit out at Mr Johnson.
“Breaching collective responsibility and leaking Cabinet discussions are bad enough but part of political life,” he said.
“But pre-briefing your disagreement with Government policy ahead of Cabinet?”
Justice Minister Phillip Lee said “now was not the time” for such a debate, adding: “I’m getting on with my own job – as should others.”
Others, however, continued to express concern about a lack of boldness from Mrs May’s Government amid the electoral threat of Jeremy Corbyn’s radical Labour.
Sir Nicholas Soames is the latest Tory backbencher to voice unease about the style of the Prime Minister’s administration, after former minister Nick Boles warned of “timidity and lack of ambition”.
Using one of the extended hashtags which have become his social media trademark, Sir Nicholas asked: “Where’s the bold and brave? So far, it’s dull, dull, dull.”
“It really won’t be enough to get people to vote against The Corbini,” he warned.
“They must have really sound reasons to vote Conservative.
“We really need to get on with this. #wherestheboldandbravesofaritsdulldulldull.”