Ruthie Henshall's message to Boris Johnson over her mum's care home death

01 November 2023 , 10:37

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Ruthie Henshall's mother Gloria died in a care home during lockdown

West End star Ruthie Henshall has voiced her anger after it was claimed Boris Johnson believed coronavirus was "nature's way of dealing with old people".

The actor and singer, whose mum Gloria died in a care home during lockdown, said she was “deeply shocked and offended” by his attitude. Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance wrote in his diaries that Mr Johnson was "obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going”.

Ms Henshall told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I watched my mother die through a care home window. I would have liked to have just touched my mother, I would have liked to have just hugged her.”

Asked about Mr Johnson’s attitude, she said: “I thought it's pretty shocking actually. That kind of attitude, we had that in the 80s with AIDS… it was it was a way of getting rid of all gays. So I was so deeply shocked and offended.” She added: “There were some huge, terrible mistakes that were made and as a result thousands of people died - and thousands of us watched our loved ones dying.”

Diary entries written by Sir Patrick also exposed Mr Johnson’s attitude towards the pandemic in private. The top scientist complained about “quite bonkers” conversations with the then PM. 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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Natalie Grayson of the GMB union, which represents care home workers, 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 Mr 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".

John Stevens