Politics Explained: What was that document that Jeremy Corbyn brandished in the TV debate?

Does Boris Johnson really want to ‘sell our NHS to the United States and big pharma’?, writes John Rentoul

(ITV)

The Labour leader waved some pieces of paper in the ITV debate, with “every single line redacted out”, and said to Boris Johnson: “You’re going to sell out our NHS to the United States and big pharma.”

The viewer could see that every line was indeed blacked out. But Jeremy Corbyn had no time to explain what the documents were. So are they evidence of a secret plot by the government to give parts of the health service to Donald Trump’s friends, or was the prime minister justified in his furious insistence that the NHS is not and never would be for sale?

The documents were obtained by Global Justice Now, the pressure group formerly known as the World Development Movement, under the Freedom of Information Act. They are accounts of six meetings between UK and US officials to discuss a possible post-Brexit trade deal.