Wednesday May 26, 2021
British ex-advisor unpacks
Johnson reportedly wanted to get injected with the virus
Thanks to the swift vaccination campaign, the UK is now largely under control of the pandemic. At the beginning, however, the country was hit hard – also because of the half-hearted course of the government. Dominic Cummings, then Prime Minister Johnson’s closest confidante, is now testifying in Parliament.
The once influential British ex-government advisor Dominic Cummings has criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s corona policy as a catastrophic failure. “The truth is that high-level ministers, high-level officials, high-level advisors like myself have been catastrophically falling short of the standards the public can expect from their government in a crisis like this,” said Cummings. “I want to say to all the families of those who died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that have been made.” Also, “my own mistakes,” he added.
The government failed to see the signs of the spreading pandemic, said Cummings, who was Johnson’s most important and influential advisor at the time. Cummings was seen as the head behind Johnson’s populist style of government. “A lot of people were on their ski vacation in mid-February. There was no sense of urgency until the last week of February,” said Cummings. It was only at the end of February 2020 that it was seen that the contingency plans were “hollow”. Shortly before, Johnson even wanted to be infected with corona to show that the virus was not dangerous, Cummings reported in parliament.
Johnson later actually contracted the virus and had to be treated in an intensive care unit for days. Cummings testified, “In February Boris Johnson thought it was just a scary story. He thought it was the new swine flu.” He went on to claim that Johnson said, “I’m going to get (the chief medical advisor) Chris Whitty to inject me with the coronavirus live on TV so everyone can see it’s not something to be afraid of.”
Government rejects criticism
At the weekend, Cummings had stated that the government had indeed pursued a policy of “herd immunity” at the beginning of the corona pandemic, but later denied this and thus deliberately lied. With “the right preparation and competent people in charge,” the government could probably have avoided the first lockdown, he wrote.
Cummings, who had to vacate his post as chief advisor in late 2020, has since turned into a bitter opponent of the prime minister. Although Johnson is under pressure because of a few affairs, he has won back the favor of many voters with a successful vaccination campaign. More than two-thirds of adults in the UK have received at least one dose of vaccine.
The British government rejected Cummings’ revelations even before he testified in parliament. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Sky News that the questioning of Dominic Cummings in parliament was a “sideline”. Johnson’s ex-confidante has a personal agenda. The minister suggested that Cummings, who left the government in dispute in November 2020, was seeking revenge. “I leave what his motives are to others.” The Daily Mail had previously reported that Cummings would hold Johnson personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of corona patients.
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