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Boris Johnson grabbed a reporter’s phone after repeatedly refusing to look at a damning photo of a small boy forced to sleep on an NHS hospital floor.
ITV reporter Joe Pike had tried to confront Johnson with the image of four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr asleep on a pile of coats while he waited in A&E with suspected pneumonia.
The PM first revealed he had not seen the photo – which made national news headlines – but was “told about it by the BBC”, before refusing three times to look at it.
It took Pike pointing out that Johnson had grabbed his phone off-camera for the PM to relent, finally looking at the image which he described as a “terrible, terrible photo”.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has described the photo of Jack, who was admitted to Leeds General Infirmary with suspected pneumonia, as “absolutely heartbreaking”.
The boy was forced to spend four hours on the floor before enduring another five hours on a trolley before a bed was finally found for him, according to the Mirror.
McDonnell said Jack’s story showed “how bad it’s got after 10 years of austerity”.
Asked about the photograph hours earlier, Johnson apologised to NHS patients who had received poor care.
He told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “Of course I sympathise very much and I apologise to everybody who has a bad experience.
“By and large, I think the NHS do an amazing job and I think that they deserve all praise for the service they provide – but they do need investment and that’s why we’re doing it now.
“But they need investment from a one-nation government that really cares and understands – that’s us that cares and understands – and you need long-term funding.”