Ex-advisors slam Boris Johnson over handling of Covid pandemic during public hearing
Dominic Cummings
Former senior advisors of UK’s then prime minister Boris Johnson have slammed the leader over mishandling of the Covid crisis.
On Tuesday (Oct 31), both were summoned to testify against Johnson in the COVID-19 public inquiry that was set up to examine the government’s response to the pandemic.
The inquiry, which is chaired by retired senior judge Heather Hallett, is examining decision-making and political governance. In the first phase, it focused on the UK's resilience and preparedness.
Dominic Cummings, Johnson's ex-top aide, and Lee Cain, Downing Street's former communications chief, were critical of Johnson’s attitude when the country was facing one of its worst crises, especially during mid-July 2021 when Britain officially recorded nearly 130,000 fatalities.
During the hearing, Cummings was shown a host of disparaging WhatsApp messages in which he called his former colleagues “useless f***pigs, morons and c***s”, reports Independent.
Johnson was called a trolley
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Cummings also reiterated past descriptions of Johnson as a broken shopping "trolley" that would veer in all directions on issues, most notably Covid.
"Pretty much everyone called him a trolley," Cummings told the inquiry.
The former top aide candidly admitted that the government’s response during the pandemic featured "widespread failure" alongside "pockets of excellent teams doing excellent work within an overall dysfunctional system".
Former communications chief Cain said that Covid was the "wrong crisis" for Johnson's skill set, admitting that he became "exhausted" by his alleged indecision in dealing with the pandemic in early 2020.
Johnson was indecisive
"He's somebody who would often delay making decisions, would often seek counsel from multiple sources and change his mind on issues," Cain said.
He said that can be "a great strength" in politics, but the pandemic response required "quick decisions" and "people to hold the course" and "not constantly unpick things".
When asked about expletive-filled messages from Cummings to Cain in early 2020 criticising Johnson's performance, the former communications chief acknowledged that the prime minister frustrated his senior aides.
"Anyone that's worked with the prime minister for a period of time will become exhausted with him sometimes," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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