Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with virus on TV former chief of staff confirms
Boris Johnson offered to be injected with Covid-19 on television to “demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat”, the Covid inquiry has heard.
Lord Edward Lister, the former chief of staff at No10, confirmed the former prime minister offered to do this in his written evidence to the inquiry.
He said the “unfortunate” comment by Mr Jonson was made early on in the Covid-19 outbreak, before the virus had reached the UK and during a time of limited understanding.
“The Prime Minister suggested to senior civil servants and advisors that he wanted to be injected with Covid-19 on television to demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat,” Lord Udny-Lister wrote in the evidence he submitted.
“I appreciate that these were unhelpful comments, but they were made at a time of high stress and limited understanding of what lay ahead.”
Discussing his evidence before the inquiry, Lord Udny-Lister explained Mr Johnson had made the comments “before the Italian situation had really become apparent to everybody” – referring to the devastating spread of the virus in northern Italy.
“It was a time when Covid was not seen as being the serious disease it subsequently became. It was a moment in time – I think it was an unfortunate comment,” he added.
Pressed by Andrew O’Connor KC on it being known that Covid was a deadly disease many weeks before then, Lord Udny-Lister responded: “We were still living in the forlorn hope that it wasn’t going to come – it was wrong. I fully accept it’s a comment that shouldn’t have been made, but it was made in the heat of the moment, that’s all.”
Lord Udny-Lister, who worked as chief of staff in Downing Street from July 2019 to January 2021, added he was unsure of the exact timing of Mr Johnson’s comment.
In Tuesday’s evidence Mr Johnson and then Chancellor Rishi Sunak were depicted indecisive divided, according to the diaries of chief scientist Sir Patrick Vallance.
Sir Patrick complained that Mr Johnson and his then-chancellor Rishi Sunak were “clutching at straws” and at odds with each other on the best approach to lockdown.
He said Mr Johnson was “all over the place” whilst Mr Sunak was “using increasingly specific and spurious arguments against closing hospitality”.
“Both of them clutching at straws…” he wrote. “There are really only three choices for the high prevalence areas… 1) Do a proper lockdown 2) Use military to enforce the rules 3) Do nothing and do a ‘Barrington Declaration’ and count the bodies (poor, old and BAME). When will they decide.”
In another extract from the notebooks, dated October 25, Sir Patrick suggested Mr Johnson was often “buffeted” in his decision-making by Mr Sunak.
Sir Patrick wrote: “Ridley meeting – positioned PM meeting as ‘a chance to step back/but avoid making a whole load of decisions that then get undone by Cx’.
“I asked what PM thinks objectives are ‘what he wants to achieve is a series of mutually incompatible options’. He ‘owns’ the reality for a day and the is buffeted by a discussion with Cx.”
The disclosure came as Simon Ridley became the latest top official to appear before Lady Hallett’s inquiry this week.
The former head of the Cabinet Office Covid-19 taskforce faced detailed questions about the role and influence of the official body over the course of 2020.
