In a bold signal of his ambition to win over millions of former Labour voters in the general election, the Prime Minister claimed the drastic public spending cuts under David Cameron and George Osborne in the wake of the 2008 financial crash were “just not the right way forward” for the country. He also promised a “very different approach” if he wins a Tory Commons majority in the December 12 poll with more investment to “unleash the potential of this country”. Mr Johnson’s shock declaration followed an angry election spat over the future of the NHS yesterday. He dismissed allegations from Jeremy Corbyn that the health service would be up for grabs in a UK-US trade negotiations as “total nonsense”.

And in an interview with the Spectator magazine yesterday, the Prime Minister went further in setting out his personal commitment to protecting the public services.

Hinting at a major spending splurge to appeal to traditional Labour voters, he promised a majority Tory government under his leadership would be very different from the administrations run by both Mr Cameron and Theresa May.

“I have great respect for my predecessors, it goes without saying, great respect, but this is a new government and we have a new agenda and it will be a different agenda,” the Prime Minister said.

“This is not a continuity government. This is a new government, we have a very different approach. If we can get in with a working majority, we will have a transformative agenda for the country. 

“That’s what I want to see and I genuinely, genuinely want to see the talents of all this country. 

“I do think there is an injustice at the moment that can be tackled and we have the means of doing it.”

He went on to say that he had privately opposed the policy of cutting public spending to reduce the Treasury’s colossal deficit under Mr Cameron’s coalition.

“I remember having conversations with colleagues in the government that came in in 2010 saying I thought austerity was just not the right way forward for the UK,” the Prime Minister said.

Signalling his support for loosening the Treasury purse strings, he added: “We also are going to be very different in our overall view on how to unleash the potential of this country.”

His remarks are likely to irritate Mr Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne, who led the drive to slash public spending by more than £30billion.

They are also likely to be seized upon by senior Labour figures who have repeatedly claimed austerity was a political choice rather than a necessity.

Under the austerity programme, public servants faced a pay freeze followed by years of below-inflation pay rises. All Whitehall departmental budgets apart from health were slashed during nearly a decade of spending restraint.

Tory campaign chiefs are targeting dozens of marginal Labour seats in the Midlands and the North of England in the election battle.

They are keen to show that Mr Johnson would offer a very different brand of Toryism to the financial restraint seen under Margaret Thatcher and other Tory premiers.

In his interview, Mr Johnson also vowed to use Brexit as an opportunity to transform the country and tackle injustice.

“After 45, almost 50 years of EU membership, people were feeling that parts of the UK were simply being ignored. The model of our society, the model of our economy that the EU membership seemed to go along with was basically leaving people behind. 

“What I want to do — and that’s why I find this whole thing so frustrating — is get on with a programme of levelling up. 

“A programme of uniting the country. I want to see change. I want to see this country very different in ten, 15 years’ time. 

“I want to see that change in regions and towns that have been neglected,” he said.

He said past governments had failed to invest in many struggling parts of the country.

“The Treasury has basically looked at certain parts of the country and thought that they weren’t cash cows, from the point of view of delivering revenue.

“I take a different view. That this country is so underprovided for in brilliant infrastructure that you can make a good business case for many things,” he said.

Mr Johnson also blamed Remainers for more than three years of Brexit paralysis since the 2016 referendum vote to quit the EU.

“The problems have been entirely homegrown, caused by people who — particularly in the UK establishment — have not been reconciled to leaving,” he said.

“We’re going to have a fantastic Brexit in which we will do a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal.”

He promised to energise the economy after Brexit with what he called “boosterism”, vigorous government action to kick-start growth.

“I’m not normally criticised for a want of boosterism.

“Once we get this thing done, we will either be bounding over the veldt or savannah or we will be soaring down the autostrada and doing free trade deals around the world,” the Prime Minister said.

“We’re going to build a new relationship, new friendships. That’s the exciting thing.”

With opinion polls yesterday predicting a Tory majority in the election, Mr Johnson sounded a warning against taking victory for granted. 

He pointed out that the polls had forecast a majority for Mrs May in 2017 yet the final result delivered a hung parliament.

“The memory of 2017 is evergreen and people should be in no doubt that their vote matters. There are no luxury votes in this election — if you want to prevent a Corbyn/Sturgeon coalition you must vote for the Conservatives. 

“If you want to get Brexit done then you must vote for the Conservatives otherwise, believe me, we’ll be back at the same situation we were in in 2017.”

He also repeated his warnings that a Jeremy Corbyn government would embroil the country in referendums on the EU and Scottish independence.

“There’s no way that Corbyn will be able to resist Nicola Sturgeon when it comes to that discussion about when to have a second referendum in Scotland. Does anybody see him standing up to her?” the Prime Minister said.

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