Boris Johnson has resurrected the repeatedly debunked claim that the NHS could get an extra £350 million a week after Britain leaves the EU.
The Brexit -backing Foreign Secretary repeated the claim in a newspaper article seen by many as a pitch for the Tory leadership.
His 4,000-word “blueprint” Britain after leaving the EU comes less than a week before Prime Minister Theresa May is set to give a major speech on Brexit in Florence.
And it comes three weeks before an expected “beauty contest” at Conservative Party conference, as MPs position themselves to unseat Mrs May.
“Once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly £350 million a week,” Johnson writes in the Telegraph.
“It would be a fine thing, as many of us have pointed out, if a lot of that money went on the NHS, provided we use that cash injection to modernise and make the most of new technology.”
Britain made a net contribution of £156 million a week in the last year, less than half the figure Johnson claimed.
And much of that saving will need to be paid to industries losing out on EU funding, such as farmers, universities and research organisations.
Johnson goes on to say remaining in the single market and customs union after Brexit would make a “mockery” of the referendum result.
And he launches a bizarre attack on British people who feel an affinity with Europe.
He writes: “I look at so many young people with the 12 stars lipsticked on their faces and I am troubled with the thought that people are beginning to have genuinely split allegiances.
“And when people say that they feel they have more in common with others in Europe than with people who voted Leave, I want to say: "But that is part of the reason why people voted Leave."
A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn said Johnson’s column “laid bare” the conflicts at the heart of Theresa May’s government.
He said: “The Foreign Secretary even has the gall to dredge up the fantasy of £350 million a week extra for the NHS. The Prime Minister must spell out now how this will be paid for, or stand condemned for once again trying to mislead the British public."
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable branded Mr Johnson a "Poundland Donald Trump".
"Boris Johnson is on manoeuvres, which means everyone else should take cover.
"He clearly thinks that Theresa May is on the verge of a U-turn which would lead to a transitional deal that would keep us in the single market.
"Boris Johnson sees this as his chance to bag the top job, so is pushing for a far more extreme Brexit.
"This might play well with hard right Conservative MPs but would be a disaster for the UK economy.
"Theresa May must slap down Boris Johnson in the strongest terms or she will lose the last vestige of her authority to negotiate Brexit.
"The Cabinet is more split than an oak tree struck by lightning. Britain desperately needs political grown-ups who will put the country first, not a Poundland Donald Trump like Boris Johnson."
And Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: "Boris Johnson should know that simply repeating a lie doesn't make it true.
"Crashing out of the single market would severely damage our economy and mean less money for the NHS, not more.”