2023-12-07 19:55:28
MONDE – The long-awaited hearing in the United Kingdom began on Wednesday December 6, 2023. After the appearance of his ex-collaborators at 10 Downing Street before the public commission of inquiry into the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is turn of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to explain the main decisions taken by his government and himself to fight the pandemic. The former mayor of London admitted to “deceived on certain points”, apologizing to the families of the Covid victims. He recognized that the first confinement was decreed on “uncertain foundations”claiming to assume “personally responsible” and to have “does his best”. He thus confirmed the impressions of a confused, uncertain and divided executive, revealed to the public by The Daily Telegraph and his investigation into the “Lockdown Files”.
Listening to former members of the Johnson government, interviewed at the end of October by the public commission of inquiry into the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were already able to get an idea of the atmosphere which reigned at the heart of British power. Among the first personalities to testify were Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings, respectively director of communications and political advisor to the former Prime Minister. During their hearings, they did not mince their words, calling their ex-boss a “weathervane”, “incompetent” and a “liar”.
The commission, announced in May 2021, was set up in July 2022 thanks to pressure from the families of Covid victims but did not begin its hearings until June 2023. The first called to the stand were the experts, the lawyers and crisis management specialists. This commission, it should be remembered, has no power allowing it to bring criminal or civil charges against individuals.
“We didn’t think it through enough”
Nevertheless, two former Prime Ministers and the current one will be heard. Starting with Boris Johnson, while waiting for the turn of David Cameron and Rishi Sunak. Faced with tough questions from legal experts, including commission chairwoman Heather Hallett, Johnson, who “hope this survey will help get answers to the most pressing questions”struggled to convince, even fighting back tears, according to The Telegraph.
Regarding the first confinement, Boris Johnson justified his decision not to delay in order to see if the restrictions were necessary, under pressure from “scientific opinions which were becoming more and more cautious. I felt like we had no more room to maneuver”, he explained. An argument on which a lawyer quickly rebounded, describing the government’s feeling as “lack of maneuver” like a “very very uncertain basis for ordering the ultimate sanction”.
Confinement (lockdown in English) was a decision widely criticized in the United Kingdom. Boris Johnson admits his decision “extraordinaire” was hasty, even thoughtless. “We haven’t thought enough about the impact of the lockdown on different groups and, frankly, it was much easier for people in employment to get past the lockdown than for others, whether they were in the sector hotel industry or other”did he declare.
He particularly mentions low-income people who “have really been through quite a difficult time and it was essential to focus on these people and do everything we could to help them through the lockdown”. To which a lawyer responded: “This is one of the reasons why you had to be very careful before going into a lockdown in September [2020]”.
The former Prime Minister added that he had decreed confinement “without really being sure” Datas. He confirms the content of Whatsapp messages exchanged with his collaborators and revealed as part of the “Lockdown Files” investigation, in which he questioned the exact number of deaths linked to Covid.
Has this confinement at least had the desired effect? This follower of the Davos forum, “this constellation of egos involved in orgies of adulation” in his words, ignores it. According to The Telegraphhe even admits not knowing what measures led to a reduction in the number of cases of contamination. “I think it was cumulative.”, did he declare. “I think the R (Basic reproduction number, represented in epidemiology by an R and representing the degree of contagion of a virusEditor’s note) started to decline because of a series of things we did and above all, popular anxiety about Covid”.
Johnson’s apology rejected by COVID victims
He nevertheless maintains that confinement “has worked”. “But we need to understand with much more clarity what exactly these non-pharmaceutical interventions provide”. “We’ll never know”a replica a lawyer. “Yeah, I guess it’s scientifically unfortunate, but I thought we didn’t have time to find out we couldn’t wait any longer.”further justifies Boris Johnson.
At the end of October, Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain did not hesitate when they talked about their former boss. The first described it as “weathercock, […] not worried about looking like a Prime Minister working with a team of incompetents”. As for the chief of staff, he revealed that his Prime Minister was described as “caddie” supermarket, in reference to his propensity to be influenced by his advisors in decision-making. An element already apparent in the revelations of “Lockdown Files”. “He made his decision based on the last person he looked at in the room. He was someone who often delayed making decisions. He often sought advice from multiple sources and changed his mind on certain issues. It was exhausting”confirmed Lee Cain.
On the subject of masks, exchanges between Boris Johnson, Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty, Matt Hancock and Lee Cain demonstrated that the decision to make the wearing of masks compulsory was an alignment with a recommendation from the World Health Organization. Health (WHO) but above all, alignment with a decision by Nicola Sturgeon, Prime Minister of Scotland. The measures decreed late by the “BoJo” government, such as wearing a mask and vaccination and their application, are particularly similar to those decreed by the governments of the WEF subscriber, the Italian Mario Draghi or Young Global leader Jacinda Arden in New Zealand.
On this subject, Boris Johnson mentioned decentralized official communications, that is to say the measures taken independently by Scotland or Ireland, believing that these initiatives “were a risk of confusion”. Britain, he added during his hearing, needed a “unified message” rather than separate directives.
Before his hearing began, he said he was “happy” to contribute to the commission’s investigation and “sorry for the pain, loss and suffering”. “I understand the feelings of the victims and their families (…) And while I am grateful to the hundreds of thousands of health care workers and many other public servants who have helped protect our country throughout a terrible pandemic, I hope this survey helps get answers to the questions the most urgent”.
His apology was quickly rejected by the lawyer for a Scottish association of Covid victims, Scottish Covid Bereaved. “Instead of resolving the crisis, Boris Johnson has presided over a totally disgusting orgy of narcissism”said Aamer Anwar.
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