The British media had predicted a “Domaggedon”, a catastrophic day for the British government, full of embarrassing revelations. On Wednesday May 26, Dominic Cummings (aka “Dom”, in Westminster circles) kept his promises. The former great architect of the Leave campaign in 2016, the ex-special adviser to Boris Johnson, deposed in November 2020, unleashed his blows without restraint, turning his hearing before two special committees of the British Parliament into a real one carnage.
Multiplying ad hominem attacks, repeating at least four times that the prime minister “Is not competent for the job”, Mr. Cummings, white shirt parted on his chest, engaged in an unprecedented and brutal political unpacking. The testimony of this controversial figure offered a fascinating dive into the British power machine during the pandemic, which was completely dysfunctional and “Chaotic (…), it’s a total failure “. “Tens of thousands of people have died unnecessarily”, he said.
According to Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson did not take the pandemic seriously at first
Let’s start with the Prime Minister, eviscerated live. According to Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson did not take the pandemic seriously at first, mocking “A new scary story, like the swine flu”, claiming that he “Wanted to be injected with the virus live by Chris Whitty [le conseiller médical en chef de l’exécutif britannique] “. In February 2020, while the disaster was brewing, he missed five “Cobra” meetings (government crisis meetings), disappeared for ten days on vacation. The government is caught off guard, decrees late confinement (March 23, 2020), the first wave kills more than 40,000.
“I prefer to see the bodies piling up rather than a re-containment”
The most serious criticisms concern its handling of the second wave, from the fall. “This time, we were equipped, we had the right quantified indicators”, says Cummings. The week of September 15, the government’s scientific advisers are unanimous and advise immediate re-containment. Mr Johnson refuses: “There is a big misunderstanding, people think that because he almost died from the coronavirus [en avril], he takes the disease more seriously, but not at all (…). He did not listen to the advice, he made his decision on his own. ” Mr Johnson denies economic damage from re-containment, says “That the virus only kills the over 80s”.
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