Boris Johnson’s handling of Covid crisis slammed by former top advisers

Boris Johnson’s one-time closest advisers lined up to slam his leadership during the Covid pandemic as he was blasted for his handling of the crisis.

In an extraordinary day of evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry, the former prime minister’s chief aide Dominic Cummings described the constant change of strategy as “exhausting” and branded his cabinet “useless f***pigs” in explosive WhatsApp messages.

Mr Cummings said that Mr Johnson did not think Covid was a “big deal”, while the hearing was also told that then-PM was “obsessed” with the idea older people should be allowed to catch the virus and accept their “fate” to keep the economy open.

It came as the inquiry heard Mr Johnson:

In messages Mr Cummings sent to former communications chief Lee Cain at the height of the pandemic, he slammed the former prime minister.

He said he was “exhausted” trying to explain things to Mr Johnson and that the PM had gone “back to Jaws mode w***” , a reference to the mayor in Steven Spielberg’s film who wants to keep the beaches open.

Mr Cummings also told the inquiry that Mr Johnson was described as an “indecisive trolley” by “pretty much everyone”, and that much of the government was a “nightmare” to work with during the pandemic.

The then PM considered Covid “another swine flu… (or) rubbish media hoax”, he said.

He did not push Mr Johnson to return from his holiday a month before lockdown to deal with the crisis, he said, fearing the PM would make the situation worse.

The prime minister “preferred” to stay in his study than attend the government’s emergency ‘Cobra’ meetings about the pandemic, the inquiry heard.

Mr Cain told the inquiry Covid was the “wrong crisis” for the then-PM’s “skillset”.

A series of foul-mouthed messages by Mr Cummings also laid bare the chaos at the heart of Mr Johnson’s government during the Covid crisis.

WhatsApp message and emails show he called Mr Johnson’s cabinet “useless f***pigs”, “c****” and morons – while former health secretary Matt Hancock was branded a “proven liar”.

Calling for a reshuffle, amid fears of a second wave, he also warned Mr Johnson in August 2020: “We face going into autumn crisis with the c*** (Mr Hancock) in charge of NHS still.”

Mr Cummings admitted his language was “appalling” but said he was reflecting “a widespread view” that senior politicians were “dealing with this crisis extremely badly”.

The inquiry also saw diary entries from Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Adviser during the pandemic, in which he wrote that Mr Johnson suggested the pandemic was “Nature’s way of dealing with old people” as he resisted lockdowns.

Sir Patrick wrote in August 2020 that Mr Johnson was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going”.

Four months later he wrote that Mr Johnson “ says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just Nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much’. Wants to rely on polling.” Sir Patrick described it as a “bonkers” set of exchanges.

Messages shown to the inquiry also revealed that in October that year, Mr Johnson stressed the need to “recalibrate” away from a nationwide lockdown because it was mainly elderly people dying.

He messaged: “The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy.“So get Covid and live longer.”

The then prime minister said “I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff”.

Mr Cummings also confirmed Mr Johnson had said during a meeting with then Chancellor Rishi Sunak that “we are killing the patient to tackle the tumour. Large numbers of people will die. Why are we destroying the economy for people who will die soon anyway?”Brenda Doherty, whose mother died aged 82 in March 2020 after contracting Covid-19 in hospital, said reading “psychotic” comments by Mr Johnson about older people in the pandemic was like being “punched in the stomach” as she accused him of a “callous and brutal attitude”.

Mr Cummings also said the prevailing view at the start of the pandemic was that lockdown was a “completely crazy idea”.

No 10 was “completely unsuitable” for handling the crisis “in every way’, he said, while the Cabinet Office were “terrifyingly shit”.

He told the inquiry the then-cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill had wanted Mr Johnson to go on television to encourage the public to hold the equivalent of “chickenpox parties” in a bid to promote herd immunity.

Meanwhile, the public dismissal of a call by the supermodel Caprice Bourret to close borders was “reflected” in Number 10.

The inquiry also heard from Mr Cummings that there was concern in No 10 over Mr Johnson’s relationship to the media, specifically the Daily Telegraph.

But Mr Cummings faced scrutiny as it was revealed he sent messages referring to the then-deputy cabinet secretary as “that c***” and talking of putting her in handcuffs.

In expletive-laden WhatsApp messages about Helen MacNamara in 2020, he said if he had to deal with her “bullshit … I will personally handcuff her and escort her from the building.”

He also talked of “dodging stilettos from that c***.”

Challenged about the messages Mr Cummings claimed he was “not misogynistic”, saying “I was much ruder about men than I was about Helen”, although he admitted his language was ” deplorable”.

Mr Johnson described the infighting surrounding Mr Cummings’ exit from No 10 as a “disgusting orgy of narcissism”, messages also showed.

In a final WhatsApp, the then PM hit out at suggestions that his wife Carrie was responsible for briefing against Mr Cummings, who had left No 10 two days earlier.

Mr Johnson wrote: “She hasn’t briefed anyone and my instructions to all were to shut the f*** up. How is any of us supposed to know where these briefings come from? Look at the claims made on behalf of allies of Lee (Cain) and Dom, that I’m out in six months, that I can’t take decisions, that Carrie is secretly forging lockdown policy, and about a billion equally demented claims.”

He added: “This is a totally disgusting orgy of narcissism by a government that should be solving a national crisis.”