Former Boris Johnson adviser Dominic Cummings has launched a new charge against the British Prime Minister, saying the Tory leader was reluctant to order a second lockdown because those who died were over 80 years old.
Read also: United Kingdom: Johnson announces that vaccination will soon be required at the entrance to nightclubs
After having extensively crushed Boris Johnson on his blog, on Twitter and for seven hours of hearing before a parliamentary committee two months ago, Dominic Cummings, who left Downing Street last fall amid internal struggles, granted a long interview with the BBC, broadcast Tuesday July 19.
"We can't kill the economy" for the over 80s
In the interview, Dominic Cummings says that last fall, Boris Johnson resisted the advice of scientists and the Labor opposition to order a second lockdown because he felt that "
the lockdowns are not working
" and that "
The people who die are all basically over 80 and you can't kill the economy just because people are dying over 80
".
The former adviser quotes in support of the messages of his former boss on WhatsApp, in which the latter affirmed that the median age of the victims of the Covid, "
82-81 years for men, 85 years for women
" , was “
above life expectancy
”.
Boris Johnson will eventually order a second one-month confinement in November 2020, then a third of several months in January 2021, due to an explosion of cases due to the Alpha variant.
Most of the last restrictions were lifted on Monday July 18 in England, including the obligation to wear a mask (except in transport).
Johnson almost went to see the Queen at the start of the epidemic
According to Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson wanted on March 18, 2020, five days before the first confinement, to go see Queen Elizabeth II as every week, while the government recommended to avoid contact with the elderly.
"
I told her,
'
there are people in this office isolating themselves, you might have the coronavirus, I might have the coronavirus, you can't go to the queen,
'" said Dominic Cummings. "
I said,
'
if you give her the coronavirus and she dies, what the hell are you ... you can't do that, you can't take that risk, it's crazy.
' “, He continued, before explaining that Boris Johnson had then realized and given up.
Downing Street denied to the BBC the existence of this scene and affirmed that "
since the start of the pandemic, the Prime Minister has taken the necessary measures to protect lives
" by "
relying on the best scientific advice
". With more than 128,700 dead, the UK is one of the countries hardest hit in Europe by the pandemic.