Boris Johnson wanted to scrap lockdowns and other “medieval” pandemic controls, a Covid inquiry says
BORIS Johnson wanted to scrap lockdowns and other “medieval” pandemic controls, the Covid inquiry heard yesterday.
It also emerged that the man who later became Britain’s top civil servant thought the then prime minister’s government was “crazy” and “self-destructive”.
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The investigation found evidence of how Mr Johnson struggled to decide whether to go through a second lockdown.
In notes, he wrote: “What are we really accomplishing by destroying the economy when we have no idea how often we need to do it?”
Mr Johnson eventually imposed a second lockdown and is now facing accusations that he was reluctant to do so.
A senior official wrote in a statement that Mr Johnson said he would rather “let the bodies pile up” than impose another lockdown.
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And extracts from top documentarian Sir Patrick Vallance’s diary describe a “very bad meeting at No 10” in which both the Prime Minister and then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak were “grasping at straws”.
In an exchange of private messages seen yesterday, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said he had “never seen a group of people less equipped to run a country” than Mr Johnson’s No. 10.
He added: “These people are so crazy. . . Not toxic to me (yet), but incredibly self-destructive.”
The inquiry also heard that in the early days of the pandemic Mr Johnson had offered to have a Covid injection to “show the public it was not a threat”.
The prime minister’s former chief of staff, Lord Udny-Lister, called it “a regrettable comment”.
The investigation continues.
