The partygate scandal was “overblown” and people should not have been given fixed penalty notices for breaking Covid rules, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The new Tory leader made the surprising comments in her first interview since beating Robert Jenrick in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak.
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She also described Boris Johnson as “a great prime minister”, even though she was one of dozens of senior Conservatives who resigned from his government.
Appearing on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC1, Badenoch said: “I resigned during the Boris Johnson government. I thought he was a great prime minister, but there were some serious issues that were not being resolved.
“I think that during that tenure the public thought we were no longer speaking for them or looking out for them, we were in it for ourselves.
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“Some of them I think were perception issues. A lot of the stuff that happened around partygate was not why I resigned, I thought it was overblown. We should not have created fixed penalty notices, for example. That was us not going with our principles.
“And then we had the issue with the Chris Pincher scandal, when ministers were sent out to say things that were not true. That was when I decided things had gone too far.”
Asked by Kuenssberg if the public were “wrong to be upset about partygate”, Badenoch said: “No, they were not wrong to be upset about partygate.
“The problem was that we should not have criminalised everyday activities the way that we did. People going out for walks, all of them having fixed penalty notices. That ended up creating a trap for Boris Johnson.”
Kuenssberg then asked: “Wasn’t the problem that people in government didn’t obey the rules?”
Badenoch replied: “Yes that’s right, people in government didn’t obey the rules. But they were not MPs, they were often staffers, and I think that the way that we had created those regulations ended up entrapping …”
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The presenter then interrupted her to say: “The prime minister and the chancellor both got fines, it wasn’t just people who worked for them.”
The Tory leader replied: “Indeed, but as we saw with those events, when people see the full story of what happened they understand that problems were created because of the way that we created the regulations.”
Labour chair Ellie Reeves said: “Listening to Kemi Badenoch dismiss partygate as ‘overblown’ will add insult to injury for families across Britain who followed the rules, missing loved one’s deaths and family funerals, whilst her colleagues partied in Downing Street.”
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “It’s clear the Conservative Party haven’t learnt anything from the years of sleaze and scandal under their watch.
“Kemi Badenoch’s comments are an insult to those who lost family members during the pandemic while Boris Johnson partied and lied.
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“On day one of the job she’s already shown she’s completely out of touch with the public.”
The highly-experienced presenter admitted the “embarrassing and disappointing” gaffe in a post on X on Wednesday night.
She said she had been intending to send her briefing notes for the interview to her team, but sent them to Johnson instead.
Johnson had been due to interviewed by Kuenssberg to coincide with the publication of the former prime minister’s memoir, ‘Unleashed’.
But in her statement, Kuenssberg said: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team.
“That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead. It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked.
“But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday.”
The Conservatives are facing renewed public fury after a study found some of the former government’s Covid contracts, worth more than £15 billion, raised corruption “red flags”.
Those contracts alone were worth a collective value of £15.3bn – almost one in every three pounds spent on the pandemic – and were flagged because they raised three or more concerns over corruption.
“Most of these contracts exhibited red flags across multiple areas of risk – including those associated with the supplier profile, the procurement process and the contract outcomes – and often spanning all three. Some contracts displayed as many as eight red flags,” the researchers explained.
At least 28 of those deals – worth £4.1bn, almost a tenth of the total money spent on the pandemic response – went to firms with known connections to the Conservative party, Transparency International UK claimed.
Eight contracts allegedly went to suppliers which were had been established for no more than 100 days.
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The department of health and social care also wrote off £14.9bn of public money over that two-year period, according to the report. That is the same amount as the government’s overall spend on PPE (personal protective equipment).
The government allegedly used a VIP lane to give 51 contracts priority, 24 of which were referred to by Tory politicians or their offices, too.
Transparency International UK said it is now calling for authorities to investigate the high-risk contracts.
They told the Guardian: “Government policy was in no way influenced by the donations the party received – they are entirely separate.”
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The new Labour government is intending to appoint a Covid corruption commissioner to look at the £7.6bn of fraud recorded during the pandemic.
A Treasury spokesperson said this will help “get back the money that is owed to the British people”.
They added: “The commissioner will report directly to the chancellor, working with the secretary of state for health and social care, and their report will be presented to parliament for all members to see.”
The survey from Transparency International UK also sparked furious backlash across X, with users calling out the supposed corruption and “pure unadulterated greed”.
In an international crisis with people becoming seriously ill and dying, an enormous disruption to everyone’s life in many countries, those involved in this saw an opportunity to make money. Thats what strikes me as the most appalling aspect of the corruption.
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You tell meFollow @TransparencyUK https://t.co/Q1JRTDhodu— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) September 9, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Carol Vorderman on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/carolvorders/status/1833083913096343947","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"66defca3e4b01b464f3e24f4","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/fury-towards-the-tories-as-study-examines-covid-contracts_uk_66defca3e4b01b464f3e24f4","entryTagsList":"boris-johnson,conservative-party,covid","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":6},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"66defca3e4b01b464f3e24f4","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"boris johnson","slug":"boris-johnson","links":{"relativeLink":"news/boris-johnson","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/boris-johnson","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/boris-johnson"},"relegenceId":4161435,"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Boris Johnson","slug":"boris-johnson","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/boris-johnson/"},{"name":"conservative party","slug":"conservative-party","links":{"relativeLink":"news/conservative-party","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party"},"relegenceId":3696340,"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Conservative Party","slug":"conservative-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party/"},{"name":"covid","slug":"covid","links":{"relativeLink":"news/covid","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/covid","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/covid"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/covid/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["
Only the most gullible could look at the Tory Covid response and conclude anything other than the Tory Govt’s primary objective was to take as much money as possible.
Pure unadulterated greed, as their fellow civilians were dying in their thousands.https://t.co/5QZ6DMeHnW
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Only the most gullible could look at the Tory Covid response and conclude anything other than the Tory Govt’s primary objective was to take as much money as possible.
Pure unadulterated greed, as their fellow civilians were dying in their thousands.https://t.co/5QZ6DMeHnW
Shameful corruption and waste revealed by previous UK government during Covid pandemic peak “That we find multiple red flags in more than £15bn of contacts – amounting to a third of all such spending – points to more than coincidence or incompetence.” https://t.co/KovG36qTMw
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Shameful corruption and waste revealed by previous UK government during Covid pandemic peak “That we find multiple red flags in more than £15bn of contacts – amounting to a third of all such spending – points to more than coincidence or incompetence.” https://t.co/KovG36qTMw
Jacob Rees-Mogg has a new plan to make sure the Conservatives win the next general election – but it’s not exactly popular.
Speaking on his GB News show last night, the former cabinet minister and current backbencher announced his plan to “reunite the right” with a “big, open, comprehensive offer to those in Reform”.
Reform currently has just one MP, Lee Anderson, who defected from the Tories earlier this year shortly after resigning as the Conservative Party deputy chair.
It’s thought Reform could end up splitting the right-wing vote when the public next hit the ballot box.
So, Rees-Mogg suggested bringing famous right-wing figures back into the Conservative fold.
He said: “With the help of Nigel Farage in a Conservative government, with Boris Johnson probably returning as foreign secretary, as well [as] welcoming the likes of Ben Habib and Richard Tice into the Conservative Party.”
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His nod to the former prime minister is no surprise, considering he served in his government.
The MP also claimed in his “Moggologue” that a truly Conservative government would then be able to look at “slashing migration”, “rolling back the disastrous green agenda” and “abolishing the Equality Act”.
He even suggested that if Farage rejoined Reform, the party would shoot up to 16% in the polls, just 5% behind the Tories – so merging the two parties together would take the Conservatives up to Labour’s current polling at just over 40 percentage points.
He said it is by doing so, “winning the next election is well within reach”.
However, the Conservative Campaign Headquarters told POLITICO’s Playbook they were “unequivocally” ruling out this idea.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats called for the Tories to suspend the whip.
The party’s deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, said the Conservatives are “a shambolic mess” with MPs in “open revolt” against Sunak.
“If the Prime Minister had any bottle he would suspend the whip from Rees-Mogg and rule out Nigel Farage being allowed into the Conservative Party,” she said, and called for a general election.
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‘With the help of Nigel Farage in a Conservative government, with Boris Johnson probably returning as Foreign Secretary as well welcoming the likes of Ben Habib and Richard Tice into the Conservative Party… winning the next election is well within reach.’@Jacob_Rees_Moggpic.twitter.com/7rqFORdEnT
There is no denying that the Conservatives’ electoral chances are currently in dire straits – polling gurus predict there is a 95-99% of a Labour victory – but people could not help but laugh at this idea…
It defies belief that JRM thinks this is a good idea. Boris was a lousy Foreign Secretary and a worse PM. Farage will alienate as many voters as he’ll win over. Very few people know or care who Ben Habib and Richard Tice are. https://t.co/LFhukJCI4a
— James Gillespie 𝕏 (@JamesGillespieX) May 15, 2024
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The Conservative Party is going to be a bloodbath after the next election and I can’t wait to sit back and watch it. https://t.co/5NkGObdCID
Susanna Reid effortlessly demolished calls for Boris Johnson to return to frontline politics on Tuesday by reminding his supporters about nothing other than partygate.
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Speaking on ITV’sGood Morning Britain, former Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said he would install Johnson as party chairman with a seat in cabinet, and make sure he got elected to parliament at the next general election.
He claimed: “He’s a great campaigner and we really are missing that now – we’ve seen that at these disastrous local elections.”
But, Campbell Bannerman said the ex-PM was “set up” on that, as Johnson’s keen ally Nadine Dorries claims in her book, The Plot.
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Reid said: “Sorry, he was set up? Set up by whom?”
When the ex-MEP said it was Johnson’s own staff who were setting him up, Reid reminded him: “Boris Johnson was in charge during lockdown, [there was] legislation he introduced and [he] then proceeded to have a whole load of social events and breach of rules in No.10 Downing Street.
“In what way was that a set-up?”
Campbell Bannerman claimed Johnson “doesn’t like partying” to which Reid said: “I just saw him with a wine glass in his hand!”
When the ex-MEP just claimed the reality is very complex, Reid recalled how Johnson was fined for breaching lockdown rules.
Campbell Bannerman then claimed that “it was the media”, and said that Johnson was only a few percentage points behind in the polls – and that he does not understand why he resigned as an MP.
“I think he will be back,” Campbell Bannerman said.
Apparently not deterred by Reid’s reminders, the ex-MEP later added: “I say to Conservative MPs, for heaven’s sake, step up, get rid of Sunak, let’s have a new leader, which can bring Boris back as part of a team – it has to be Suella [Braverman] or Kemi [Badenoch].”
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He added that he “would not be averse” to having Nigel Farage back into the Conservative fold, too.
Should the Conservatives bring back Boris Johnson into the Party in order to save it?
Former Conservative MEP David Campbell Bannerman would like to see Boris back in the Conservative Party.
Boris Johnson has launched a furious attack on Rishi Sunak’s “absolutely nuts” policies as prime minister.
The former PM took aim at Sunak’s plan to ban the sale of tobacco to future generations and also suggested the government is not spending enough on defence.
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Johnson’s comments, at a conference in Canada, are the latest salvo in his ongoing feud with the man he believes plotted to bring him down as prime minister.
Sunak announced at last autumn’s Tory Party conference in Birmingham that anyone currently aged 14 or under would never be able to buy tobacco products in their life.
The measure has sparked a backlash within his own party, with dozens of Conservative MPs expected to vote against the plan when it comes to parliament next week.
Johnson said some of Sunak’s policies that are “being done in the name of conservatism” are “absolutely, absolutely nuts”.
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He said: “I see my beloved party… we’re banning cigars. And what is the point? The party of Winston Churchill wants a ban. I mean, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.”
On defence spending, Johnson said: “Now is the moment for an even more robust posture.
“We all need to recognise the world is more uncertain, more dangerous, we all need frankly to be spending more on defence — that goes for the UK as well as everybody else.”
Johnson’s remarks come just two weeks after Sunak bemoaned the “hospital pass” he had been handed by his predecessors when he became PM in 2022.
A Tory MP has launched a “weird” campaign to get a fish and chip shop opened.
Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Steve Tuckwell posted a video on X indicating his concern that there was no fish and chip shop in Uxbridge town centre – despite acknowledging the existence of two others nearb.
The Mirror reported there appears to be 10 fish and chip shops in the Uxbridge area.
The plea raised eyebrows on the social media network. Why was a politician from the free enterprise-supporting Conservative Party interfering with the market? Are there not bigger issues to be championing during a cost-of-living crisis? What is he campaigning to change, given there’s no legal pathway to enforce the opening of a takeaway food outlet?
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We have a fish & chip shop in Cowley & one near St Andrew’s Park, but we don’t in Uxbridge Town Centre.
That’s why I’m launching a campaign to get us a fish & chip shop in Uxbridge Town Centre, but I need your support to do it.
Labour’s parliamentary candidate Danny Beales responded: “Maybe try to save the library first? You couldn’t make it up. Tory MP supports the closure of libraries, nurseries and youth centres. But campaigns for an extra fish and chip shop. Uxbridge and South Ruislip deserves so much better.”
Some claimed the campaign was effectively a device to get voters to sign up to the MP’s mailing list. A petition page link posted by Tuckwell suggests people can show support by signing up with their name, email address and postcode, and a tick box alongside it reads: “I agree to Steve Tuckwell using the contact information I provide to keep me updated via email and telephone on this and other issues until further notice.”
On X, food critic Jay Rayner argued the “proper weird” campaign was “just a data scraping exercise”, while others claimed Tuckwell opposed the opening of a fish and chip shop in 2019 in his role as a local councillor.
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Minutes from a Hillingdon Council meeting on June 4, 2019, state Tuckwell attended a planning committee meeting where it was “unanimously agreed” to reject a planning application for “hot food takeaway” on Windsor Street.
The minutes state: “Members expressed concern regarding the visibility of the external duct and the fact that it would be sited in close proximity to an existing first floor window; this raised concerns regarding the potential for noise and smell.”
This looks proper weird. How can you campaign for a new fish & chip shop? Who do you petition? The haddock? Until you click on the link and realise it’s just a data scraping exercise on behalf of the Conservative Party. https://t.co/D7CiBItmty
1) There are two fish and chip shops near where this video was made. One is roughly 10 mins walk away. 2) There is no law that I’m aware of against chip shops opening in Uxbridge.
After consulting with Steve Tuckwell I have updated our National Priorities: -a fish and chip shop in Uxbridge -another barber in Kettering -2 extra parking bays behind Tesco Express in Winnersh -an extra litter bin in Littlehampton High Street https://t.co/7TjVAaBddr
I don’t understand how this works, a fish’n’chip shop isn’t a pedestrian crossing by a school or waste ground which could be turned into a park, it’s a business people either want to open or not, how do you campaign people into opening a business pic.twitter.com/anKzLWogpb
— Toby Earle 🇺🇦 Threads tobyontv (@TobyonTV) March 27, 2024
Steve was in attendance at the Hillingdon Council planning meeting in which they heard an application for a fish and chip shop in Uxbridge town centre.
The Tories narrowly retained, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson’s former seat, following a bitter by-election campaign in July, with Tuckwell beating Beales by just 495 votes to become the new MP.
The Conservatives effectively turned the by-election into a referendum on Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s decision to expand London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
Rishi Sunak has faced a backlash after urging the unelected House of Lords not to block his Rwanda plan.
In a press conference on Thursday, the prime minister pleaded with peers not to “frustrate the will of the people” as he said the UK should be “taking control of our borders”. Both phrase are an echo of Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy at the 2019 general election.
Sunak, speaking the morning after he saw off a Tory rebellion to win the Commons’ backing for his flagship Safety of Rwanda Bill, said passing the legislation was now “an urgent national priority”.
He said: “There is now only one question: will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected House or will they get on board and do the right thing? It is as simple as that.”
The draft legislation will now go to the Lords, where its opponents will try to amend it or kill it altogether.
But Sunak was labelled a “hypocrite” for his comments since the prime minister has yet to face the electorate, having become leader of the Conservative Party leader following a ballot of party members, and then only after the failure of the Liz Truss premiership.
Labour MP Jess Phillips said: “The will of the people which Mr Sunak has never actually tested being as he is unelected at the PM. Perhaps he would like to test that will?”
This is just the first of two days in which he will be grilled over the government’s handling of the pandemic, and there was plenty of back-and-forth between the former prime minister and the counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith KC.
So here’s a list of the core exchanges from the first day.
1. He began with an apology – but was interrupted by protests
“Can I just say how glad I am to be at this inquiry and how sorry I am for the pain and the loss and the suffering of the Covid victims,” Johnson said when he started to give evidence.
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Four people started to protest and held up a sign which said “the dead can’t hear your apologies”. They were removed.
Johnson also said he took “personal responsibility for all decisions made”.
The Inquiry chair, Lady Hallett, also kicked off proceedings by warning Johnson about the leaks to the media, saying: “Failing to respect confidentiality undermines the inquiry’s ability to do its job fairly, effectively and independently.”
2. Johnson couldn’t explain what happened to WhatsApps from his old phone
Amid a furore that the inquiry did not have all the necessary evidence because one of the ex-PM’s phones could not be accessed, Johnson said he was not responsible for any of the apparent technical issues.
“I haven’t removed WhatsApps from my phone. I want to make that clear. I have given everything you need,” he said.
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3 ‘Not sure’ if government decisions led to more Covid deaths
In his witness statement, the ex-PM wrote: “We – I – unquestionably made mistakes, and for those I unreservedly apologise.”
However, when pressed by Keith, Johnson did not say what mistakes he was referring to – he just admitted that, with hindsight, it was clear they needed to do things differently.
Asked if he thought government-decision making led “materially to more excess deaths than might otherwise have been the case”, he said: “I’m not sure.”
He did admit concerns about mixed messages from the devolved governments, though. He later said “the collaboration was excellent” but communication could end up being “confusing”.
4. Johnson challenged the claim the UK had the second highest number of deaths in Europe
Johnson claimed the UK was “16th out of 33 countries for excess deaths” in Europe.
However, the QC said the UK had one of the worst records for excess deaths among western European countries.
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Johnson also blamed other factors, like the “extremely elderly population”, and the population density of the UK.
5. Cabinet ‘more reluctant’ to impose lockdown
The ex-PM said his colleagues were “more reluctant” than he was to impose lockdown-type measures.
He said: “I think it would be fair to say that the cabinet was on the whole more reluctant to impose NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) than I was.”
6. Johnson admitted he read Sage meetings minutes ‘once or twice’
The PM was criticised at the start of pandemic for missing Sage – Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies – at the beginning of 2020.
He said in retrospect it may have been “valuable to try to hear the Sage conversation”, but he was reliant on the chief medical officer for England, professor Chris Whitty and the former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance who are “outstanding experts in their field”.
7. He did not want to sack Hancock
He defended the former health secretary Matt Hancock, who has been heavily criticised for his handling of the pandemic throughout the course of the inquiry.
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His former chief adviser Dominic Cummings told the inquiry he had encouraging Johnson to sack Hancock, the ex-PM said: “If you’re a prime minister, you are constantly being lobbied by somebody to sack somebody else.”
He added that Cummings “had a low opinion of the health secretary”, but Johnson said: “I thought he was wrong.”
Johnson also said he does not accept Hancock was excluded from some key meetings, but said he needed to discuss some costly elements of the lockdowns with the Treasury.
Later, he expressed frustration – and rolled his eyes – at the idea in Cummings’ witness statement that he kept Hancock in cabinet as a sacrifice for the inquiry.
“I don’t remember that at all, it’s nonsense,” Johnson said, saying he thought Hancock was a good public communicator “whatever his defects”.
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Boris Johnson, centre, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty, left, and then Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance
via Associated Press
8. Johnson disputed claims about toxic culture
Former senior civil servant Helen MacNamara told the inquiry Johnson oversaw a “toxic culture” in No.10, while top civil servant Simon Case that the top team were “basically feral”.
But the ex-PM told the inquiry that actually it was just “a lot of highly talented, highly motivated people who are stricken with anxiety” who under pressure “will be inclined to be critical of others”.
But he said it would have been worse if everyone was “so deferential” they never expressed their opinion.
9. ‘Too many meetings were too male-dominated’
MacNamara claimed there was an “obvious, sexist treatment” of women in No.10.
Johnson said: “I think that the gender balance of my team should have been better.
“I think sometimes during the pandemic, too many meetings were too male-dominated if I’m absolutely honest with you.”
10. Johnson said his senior aides chose to ‘step aside’
Johnson said his cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill and chief adviser Dominic Cummings both decided to step aside, rather than a sign he lost confidence in them.
When pressed over his relationships with them, he refused to be drawn and just said they chose to leave, saying it was “very difficult, very challenging period”.
11. Johnson responded to claims he was slow to respond to Covid
The ex-PM said the possibility of such a virus was not something that had really “broken upon the political world”, and he was not asked about it at PMQs – but noted he did become anxious about it by the end of February.
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He added: “It was not escalated to me as an issue of national concern until much later.”
Acknowledging some predictions he saw about the potential Covid deaths in early 2020, he said: “I don’t think we attached enough credence to those forecasts.”
He claimed it was a “cloud on the horizon no bigger than a man’s hand”.
He said he could not remember expressing scepticism about the possible number of deaths.
12. Blamed a lack of communication from scientific teams
“The scientific community within Whitehall at that stage was not telling us that this was something that was going to require urgent and immediate action,” Johnson claimed.
He said he knew Covid had a 2% fatality rate, but claimed “fallacious, inductive logic” meant they did not take warnings seriously.
13. Johnson admitted that deaths in Italy ‘rattled me’
The ex-PM noted Italy had an elderly population, much like the UK, and so its 8% fatality rate “really rattled me”.
He said: “We should have twigged, we should collectively have twigged, much sooner. I should have twigged [by late February].”
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14. Johnson seemed emotional when remembering decisions around lockdown
Weighing up lockdown and behavioural fatigue, Johnson said he was anxious about locking down too early without a vaccination programme.
“We have to be realistic about 2020 – the whole year – that whole tragic, tragic year,” Johnson said, before taking a moment to compose himself.
He then pointed out “we did lock down – and then it bounced back.”
15. Johnson defended his work ethic
He claimed he does not accept suggestions he was doing nothing in the months before lockdown, saying he was working and having calls with Presidents Xi and Trump.
The QC replied that he was actually not suggesting Johnson was on holiday, he was just reiterating Cummings’ allegations.
16. Johnson said he did not consider ignoring any advice about lockdown
He said the view that interventions should to be imposed too early was “the prevailing view for a long time” and shared by lots of people – and so he would not have gone into lockdown earlier.
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Suggesting it was hard to know how to respond, he said: “When you hear about an Asian pandemic that is about to sweep the world, you think you’ve heard it before and that was the problem.”
He did not consider overruling the chief medical officer – and Keith then asked if he understood Sage could not tell him what to do.
Over accusations that he showed a lack of leadership by changing direction, he said: “Of course we were changing but so did the collective understanding of the science.”
17. He expressed regret about shaking hands
Johnson told the media he went to a hospital and shook hands with several Covid patients at the very early stages of the pandemic.
“I do think I shouldn’t have done that in retrospect,” Johnson replied.
“I should have been more precautionary, but I wanted to be encouraging to people.”
The clip in question from March 2020 below:
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18. Johnson acknowledged sports events should have been cancelled
“With hindsight, as a symbol of the government’s earnestness rather than being guided by the science, we should perhaps have done this,” he said.
But he added, “At every stage I was weighing massive costs,” and “what the government was going to do was “very destructive for a lot of people least able to bear the costs”.
19. He addressed thinking behind herd immunity
Johnson said trying to flatten the curve of infections, – which he claimed led some people to assume the government were “trying to allow this thing to pass through the population unchecked”.
However he said this would have been a “by-product” of tackling the virus.
20. Johnson was ‘bewildered’ by possible impact of intervention
Presented with a graph showing the possible impact of interventions on the NHS, he said: “I was bewildered, to be honest.”
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With or without restrictions, he said: “In either case, we are facing an absolutely intolerable situation.”
21. One heated moment over his lockdown
Johnson rejected claims he could not make up his mind about the lockdown – which came into effect on March 23, 2020 – but said the chancellor told him it would pose a risk to bond markets so he had to make a careful decision.
“It would have been totally negligent not to have had such a conversation,” Johnson said: “I’d made up my mind – we [were] getting on and doing it, we [were] not being diverted.”
He said, “I had no other tool – literally nothing else” aside from lockdown, and he “couldn’t take the gamble with public health”.
22. Johnson stood by lockdown
He said: “I believe that it was absolutely necessary” and “helped to suppress the R-rate”.
He also cast doubt on the view that the need for a mandatory stay at home order could have been avoided if the government acted sooner – but accepted Sage lacked enough clarify on data.
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23. Johnson said he should have spent more time with the devolved administrations
Despite saying in his witness statement that he thought it was wrong for the PM to hold meetings with the first ministers, and compared it to being a “mini EU”, Johnson said they need to get a “better way of getting a unified message”.
“Some form of integrated decision-making which does not leak is what you’re after,” he said.
24. Johnson expressed regret for saying long Covid was ‘bollocks’
The ex-PM admitted that he had written in notes about long Covid describing it as “bollocks” and “gulf war syndrome stuff” – an illness which rocked veterans from the 1991 war, but no single cause was ever identified.
He said these phrases may have caused “hunt and offence to huge numbers of people who have that syndrome”, and “I regret it very very much.”
The Covid Inquiry is shown a document referencing a study into Long Covid, which Boris Johnson had scribbled over with the words “Bollocks” and “this is Gulf War Syndrome stuff”. pic.twitter.com/QnD3zKfpk1
25. Johnson defended ‘argumentative’ culture in No.10
Johnson’s administration has been repeatedly slammed for “misogyny”, “leadership issues”
The ex-PM said he wanted a No.10 where ideas can be challenged, and he said: “It was occasionally argumentative, but that was no bad thing.”
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He also said the country required “continuous, urgent action”, and claimed he spoke bluntly sometimes “because I wanted to give people cover to do the same”.
He also said the PM should go into meetings when decisions are being made – but that was not happening.
Boris Johnson asked whether Covid could be be cured by blowing a hair dryer up your nose, after watching a YouTube video.
Dominic Cummings made the allegation in his evidence to the Covid inquiry, describing it as a “low point”.
Cummings said as the pandemic raged he often “couldn’t be sure” whether it was actually Johnson himself who was “the source of false stories” in the media about Covid.
“A low point was when he circulated a video of a guy blowing a special hair dryer up his nose ‘to kill covid’ and asked the CSA (chief science adviser) and CM (chief medical officer) what they thought,” Cummings said.
Writing his his diary on December 12, 2021, Vallance said: ”[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.”
Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, also once worried that Johnson was “Trump-Bolsonaro level mad” on Covid.
