Boris Johnson is “unfit for the job” of Prime Minister and tens of thousands of people died unnecessarily because of his government’s failings over coronavirus, Dominic Cummings said.
The Prime Minister’s former adviser said Johnson dismissed the pandemic as a “scare story” or the new “swine flu” in early 2020 as the global crisis loomed and then had to be persuaded to lock down in March.
In a devastating seven-hour confessional of what went on inside Downing Street last year Cummings claimed Johnson ignored scientific advice when faced with calls for a circuit breaker in September.
The rogue confidante the Prime Minister sacked last November reaffirmed a claim that Johnson said he would rather see “bodies pile high” than announce a third lockdown.
Cummings apologised to the public, saying that ministers, officials and advisers had fallen “disastrously short” of the standards they should expect in a crisis.
He said the Prime Minister was more concerned about the impact on the economy than the need to curb the spread of coronavirus in the weeks leading up to the first lockdown.
But the former Downing Street adviser reserved his most scathing comments for Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, who, he said, should have been fired for 15 or 20 reasons and for lying to colleagues and the public.
In hour after hour of remarkable evidence Cummings lifted the curtain on the chaotic Downing Street response to the pandemic in the early part of 2020 when lots of key people "were literally skiing".
He told MPs : “The truth is that senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me fell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its Government in a crisis like this.
“When the public needed us most, the Government failed.
“I would like to say to all the families of those who died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and for my own mistakes at that.”
Four times in the marathon session Cummings said Prime Minister was “unfit for office”.
Cummings painted a picture of a chaotic Downing Street with his calls in early March 2020 competing with calls from US president Donald Trump urging UK involvement in an Middle East bombing raid and Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds "going crackers" with the press office to deal with newspaper stories about Dilyn, the Prime Minister’s dog.
As the disaster approached Cummings claimed it was finally realised that a meeting would need to be held with Johnson to explain “we’re going to have to ditch the whole official plan, we’re heading for the biggest disaster this country has seen since 1914”.
He praised deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara, who also voiced concerns about the lack of a plan, claiming she came into a Downing Street room to declare: “I think we are absolutely f*****, I think this country is headed for disaster, I think we’re going to kill thousands of people”.
Cummings portrayed Johnson as the comedic figure he has become in public eyes, with the Prime Minister comparing himself to the mayor in Jaws who kept the beaches open as the giant shark lurked offshore.
He claiming the Prime Minister wanted to be injected with the virus on live tv by chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty to show it was nothing to be scared of.
Another idea of was from Cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill for the Prime Minister to go on TV and explain the herd immunity plan by saying “it’s like the old chicken pox parties, we need people to get this disease because that’s how we get herd immunity by September”.
Cummings said Johnson was kept away from early Cobra meetings because he did not take the looming crisis seriously.
Cummings said : “The view of various officials inside No 10 was – if we have the Prime Minister chairing Cobra meetings and he just tells everyone ‘it’s swine flu, don’t worry about it, I’m going to get Chris Whitty to inject me live on TV with coronavirus so everyone realises it’s nothing to be frightened of’ – that would not help actually serious planning,”
The first lockdown was finally implemented on March 23, but Cummings said the Prime Minister later regretted the move.
Similar mistakes were made in September as Johnson was urged by Government scientists to impose a second lockdown but he resisted because of economic concerns.
He was asked by SNP MP Carol Monaghan he had heard Johnson said he would rather see “bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown on the nation?
Cummings replied: “I heard that in the Prime Minister’s study. That was not in September though, that was immediately after he finally made the decision to do the lockdown on October 31.”
But pressed and asked why he didn’t take more personal responsibility and cross-examined on his controversial lockdown visits to Barnard Castle Cummings offered only mealy mouthed excuses on the security of his family.
Much of his evidence was contradicted by Downing Street and Matt Hancock issued an angry denial of the bitter criticisms.
But Cummings' key message hit home. “Tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die,” he said.
“There is absolutely no excuse for delaying that because a lot of the reasons for why that happened are still in place now.”
