31 October 2023 , 21:59
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Boris Johnson claimed coronavirus was "nature's way of dealing with old people" as he refused to introduce lockdown restrictions that could have saved lives.
The Covid Inquiry heard how he failed to properly prepare for the pandemic as did not believe it was a “big deal”. On a day of jaw-dropping revelations, his top spin doctor admitted he was the “wrong” PM to deal with the crisis.
And Dominic Cummings suggested the first lockdown could have been avoided if the Government had acted quicker when Covid started spreading through China.
Diary entries written by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance also exposed Mr Johnson’s attitude towards the pandemic in private. The top scientist complained about “quite bonkers” conversations with the then PM, who he wrote was "obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going”.
In December 2020, Sir Patrick recorded that Mr Johnson had told him that Conservative MPs think “the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature's way of dealing with old people”, before adding: “I am not entirely sure I disagree with them.”
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Newly-released WhatsApp messages also showed that Mr Johnson in October 2020 wrote: "Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff."
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Mr Cummings and former No10 director of communications Lee Cain both told the inquiry how Mr Johnson dithered over key decisions as he constantly changed his mind. In a stark WhatsApp message a fortnight before the first lockdown, Mr Cummings told the then PM: "The overwhelming danger here is being late and the NHS implodes like zombie apocalypse film - not being a week early."
Mr Cain said it was "the wrong crisis for this Prime Minister's skillset", as he admitted Mr Johnson was a “challenging character to work with” as he “will oscillate” and “take a decision from the last person in the room”. Mr Cummings conceded it was "pretty insane" many senior government officials including Mr Johnson went on holiday in February 2020 half term rather than help to prepare for the pandemic.
Both Mr Cummings and Mr Cain left No10 in November 2020 as No10 descended into civil war. In a final WhatsApp message to Mr Cummings after a row over the influence and alleged briefings by his wife Carrie, Mr Johnson wrote: “This is a totally disgusting orgy of narcissism by a government that should be solving a national crisis.” Mr Cummings then blocked the PM on the messaging app.
Natalie Grayson of the GMB union, which represents care home workers, last night accused the Tories of showing “utter contempt” for those they were looking after. She said: “The Government turned our care homes into morgues. Emergency workers, care workers, residents and their families are the ones who have had to live with the trauma of their failure. Boris Johnson is a disgrace.“
Brenda Doherty, whose mother died aged 82 in March 2020 after contracting coronavirus in hospital, said reading comments made by Boris Johnson about older people in the pandemic was like being "punched in the stomach". The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK campaign spokeswoman accused the former PM of having had a "callous and brutal attitude".