UP TO 25,000 nurses are training to become activists so they can force Boris Johnson to improve on his “pitiful” 1 per cent NHS pay rise offer.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) hopes the move will help it achieve a turnout of 50 per cent in the strike ballot it has pledged to call if the Prime Minister continues to resist calls for a real-terms increase in England.

As part of its “don’t get angry, get organised” campaign, the union has enlisted the help of Jane McAlevey, a senior policy fellow at the University of California, who has been training nurses in the United States to unionise and win better pay and conditions for 25 years.