Coronavirus UK news – Boris blasted for ‘liking the chaos’ after refusing to deny comments about over 80s dying of Covid

DOMINIC CUMMINGS’ EVIDENCE: SOME OF THE KEY CLAIMS SO FAR

• Official inquiry needs to be held sooner as ‘tens of thousands of people died who did not need to die’
• Boris Johnson compared the virus to swine flu and suggested he should be injected with Covid-19 live on TV to prove it was not dangerous
• Cummings told PM he must fire Matt Hancock for lying on multiple occasions including telling Cabinet people who would be tested before being sent back to care homes
• ‘Lions led by donkeys’ – there were great people working on the response but the top leadership were not up to the job
• There was no ‘sense of urgency’ about the pandemic until late February
• Former adviser said he drove hundreds of miles to Durham while suffering from Covid because of security threats to his family

CUMMINGS: ‘COMPLETE NONSENSE’ TO CLAIM COVID SHIELD WAS PUT AROUND CARE HOMES

The Government sent hospital patients with Covid-19 back to care homes and suggestions they were shielded are «complete nonsense», Dominic Cummings has said.

Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser suggested the Prime Minister was furious when he came back to work after recovering from coronavirus to find that untested patients had been discharged to care homes in England, thereby allowing the virus to spread.

He said Health Secretary Matt Hancock had told Mr Johnson previously that they would be tested.

Cummings told MPs: «So that was one of the other things that I, that we, found shocking, that when we realised in April that this had happened, the Prime Minister said a less polite version of ‘what on earth are you telling me?’.

«When he came back after being ill: ‘What on earth has happened with all these people in care homes? Hancock told us in the Cabinet Room that people were going to be tested before they went back to care homes, what the hell happened?»‘

“COMPLETELY CRACKERS” THAT PM WAS IN CHARGE

Dominic Cummings said it was “completely crackers” Boris Johnson was in charge and that thousands of people in the country could provide better leadership than the Prime Minister.

Cummings said the fact that the public had to choose between Mr Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election meant it was clear that the electoral system had “gone extremely, extremely badly wrong”.

“There’s so many thousands and thousands of wonderful people in this country who could provide better leadership than either of those two,” he said.

“And there’s obviously something terribly wrong with the political parties if that’s the best that they can do.”

BEREAVED FAMILIES REACT TO CUMMINGS’ COVID EVIDENCE

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group said DominicCummings’ evidence showed that «the government’s combination of grotesque chaos and uncaring flippancy is directly responsible for many of our loved ones not being with us today – and the refusal to have an urgent statutory inquiry risks others joining them».

«That this information is being unveiled in a pantomime-style spat between Cummings and Johnson, littered with independence day, Jeff Goldblum and spiderman references, is utterly inappropriate and makes this even more appalling.

«This spectacle is a million miles from that and has left many of the bereaved in tears of anger and pain today. The Government’s statutory inquiry now has to start immediately and include regular interim reporting.

«It is clear that there are incredibly serious questions to be asked of those in power, and that waiting until next year means the information will simply be leaked in an insensitive and hurtful manner – and even worse, lead to more unnecessary deaths.»

FOUR NATIONS COVID SUMMIT POSTPONED

A four-nations coronavirus recovery summit has been postponed.

The move follows the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales writing to Boris Johnson calling for a delay for further discussions ahead of the summit.

In their joint letter, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford said this would ensure it would «avoid the risk of it being just a PR or box-ticking exercise».

Their letter criticised the Prime Minister’s office for sending «a very rough proposed agenda» with key issues in the discussions seemingly yet to be agreed.

CUMMINGS CRITICISED PLANS FOR OFFICIAL INQUIRY NEXT YEAR

Dominic Cummings has said it would be «completely terrible» to delay an official inquiry until next year as «tens of thousands people died who did not need to die».

He said the more time passes «the more memories will be wiped, the more documents will go astray».

The former No 10 adviser called on MPs to demand a proper inquiry their constituents who lost loved ones to the virus.

WATCH: DOMINIC CUMMINGS ON THAT BARNARD CASTLE TRIP

CUMMINGS SAYS HE TOLD PM TO FIRE MATT HANCOCK

Dominic Cummings has been severely critical of the conduct of the Health Secretary during the pandemic.

• He said Hancock should have been fired for “at least 15,20 things” including “lying to everybody on multiple occasions”.
• Cummings said Hancock blamed the failure to produce enough PPE on NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens and the Treasury
• Cummings claims then Cabinet Secretary Lord Sedwill began to question Hancock’s honesty
• Cummings accused Hancock of “criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm” by pushing his 100k a day testing target while the PM was “on his deathbed”
• Cummings said Hancock told people to push 100k a day target even though Whitehall told him to drop it
• Cummings said Lord Sedwill sent up the ‘Test and Trace system’ as a separate entity to take it away from Hancock

CUMMINGS SAYS HANCOCK TOLD CABINET PEOPLE WOULD TESTED BEFORE THEY WENT BACK INTO CARE HOMES

People with Covid-19 were sent from hospital to care homes without being tested, despite the health minister saying they would be, making a «complete nonsense» of claims they would be shielded, Prime Minister Johnson’s former top adviser said.

«Hancock told us in the Cabinet Room that people were going to be tested before they went back to care homes,» Dominic Cummings told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

«We only subsequently found out that that hadn’t happened. Now all the government rhetoric was we put a shield around care homes and blah blah it’s complete nonsense. Quite the opposite of putting a shield around the, we sent people with Covid back to the care homes.»

CUMMINGS SAYS CABINET SECRETARY COMPARED COVID-19 TO CHICKEN POX

Dominic Cummings said former Cabinet Secretary Lord Sedwill suggested Boris Johnson go on television to explain Covid-19 herd immunity was similar to chicken pox parties.

The former adviser claimed he told Sedwill to stop comparing to the typically non-fatal illness as Covid was spreading exponentially and killing thousands of people.

He said it was only then that the people in room really seemed to realise how serious the epidemic was.

Chicken pox parties are when parents encourage small children to play with a child who has contracted chicken pox as the illness can only be contracted once and is much safer to have in childhood than adulthood.

INDEPENDENT SAGE MEMBER ON DOMINIC CUMMINGS’ EVIDENCE

EU SUES ASTRAZENECA FOR MAJOR CONTRACT BREACH

A lawyer for the European Union accused AstraZeneca on Wednesday of failing to respect its contract with the 27-nation bloc for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and asked a Belgian court to impose a large fine on the company.

The EU took the Anglo-Swedish firm to court in April after the drugmaker said it would aim to deliver only 100 million doses of its vaccine by the end of June, instead of the 300 million foreseen in the supply contract.

Brussels wants the company to deliver at least 120 million vaccines by the end of June. AstraZeneca had delivered 50 million doses at the beginning of May, one-fourth of the 200 million vaccines foreseen in the contract by then.

«AstraZeneca did not even try to respect the contract,» the EU’s lawyer, Rafael Jafferali, told a Brussels court in the first hearing on the substance of the legal case.

He said the EU was seeking 10 euros ($12.2) for each day of delay for each dose as compensation for AstraZeneca’s non-compliance with the EU contract. This penalty would apply from July 1, 2021, if the judge accepted it.

NO BORDER POLICY

Dominic Cummings on the decision not to close the borders:

He said: «Fundamentally there was no proper border policy because the prime minister didn’t want a proper border policy…his basic argument was that lockdown was a terrible mistake, I should have been the mayor of Jaws.»

He is referring to the mayor in the movie Jaws who kept the beaches opened despite the shark attacks who Johnson had previously cited as his political hero.

BORIS JOHNSON FAILS TO DENY CLAIMS HE SAID «ONLY OVER 80s WERE DYING»

Boris Johnson has insisted his Government at «every stage tried to minimise loss of life» as he failed to deny claiming Covid was «only killing 80-year-olds».

Sir Keir Starmer used Prime Minister’s Questions to grill Mr Johnson over allegations levelled against the Government, predominantly by his former senior adviser Dominic Cummings.

At one stage the Labour leader asked Mr Johnson to refute an allegation that he delayed introducing a second lockdown last autumn because «Covid was only killing 80-year-olds», with Mr Johnson replying that the independent public inquiry will examine the matter, before defending his decisions.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford also asked about claims that the Government considered «chickenpox parties» and «injecting the Prime Minister with Covid live on TV».

Johnson replied: «I don’t recognise the events he describes.»

CUMMINGS SAYS BORIS JOHNSON LIKES THE CHAOS

Dominic Cummings said he had decided to leave Downing Street by the end of 2020 because the system was too chaotic.

Speaking to the Science and Health select committees, Cummings said he told Boris Johnson he was leaving just before he was due to have an operation in the summer.

When asked why he was leaving he said he the system in No 10 was too chaotic and he could not put together the team to fix it.

He said he told the PM: «You are more frightened of me having the power to stop the chaos than the chaos itself».

The former adviser said Johnson then laughed and agreed, saying: «Chaos is not that bad, chaos means everyone has to look to me to sort it out».

CUMMINGS SAYS PM CAME CLOSE TO SACKING HANCOCK IN APRIL

BELGIUM SUSPENDS USE OF JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE AFTER WOMAN’S DEATH

The Belgian government says it has suspended the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine for people under age 41 following the death of a person who had received the shot.

The government said in a statement it was asking for urgent advice from the European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s drug regulator, before it would consider lifting the suspension. It added that the impact on the national vaccination drive would be very limited.

Belgium was using the American-made Johnson & Johnson vaccine for elderly with reduced mobility and the homeless since it only takes one shot to be protected. Those shots will be continued.

It said it took the action after a single case «where there was serious side effects after administering the Janssen vaccine,» using the local name for the Johnson & Johnson shot.

It said a woman was vaccinated through her foreign employer outside the Belgian system and had died in Belgium last week after developing «serious thrombosis and reduced blood platelets.»

CUMMINGS SAYS HE TOLD PM TO FIRE MATT HANCOCK

Dominic Cummings has been severely critical of the conduct of the Health Secretary during the pandemic.

• He said Hancock should have been fired for «at least 15,20 things» including «lying to everybody on multiple occasions».
• Cummings said Hancock blamed the failure to produce enough PPE on NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens and the Treasury
• Cummings claims then Cabinet Secretary Lord Sedwill began to question Hancock’s honesty
• Cummings accused Hancock of «criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm» by pushing his 100k a day testing target while the PM was «on his deathbed»
• Cummings said Hancock told people to push 100k a day target even though Whitehall told him to drop it
• Cummings said Lord Sedwill sent up the ‘Test and Trace system’ as a separate entity to take it away from Hancock

CUMMINGS SAID PANDEMIC RESPONSE WOULD HAVE BEEN «EVEN WORSE» IF THERE HAD BEEN NO 2019 ELECTION

The PM’s former top aide Dominic Cummings said the coronavirus pandemic would have been handled «even worse» if the 2019 election had not taken place.

Cummings said: «I do think that one way in which this could have been even worse than it was, if you imagine that Parliament of 2019, that hung parliament.

«If you imagine that Parliament colliding with this disaster in January 2020, God only knows what would have happened.»

He added: «If that broken Parliament had limped on into 2020 and confronted this crisis, I think that we’d be now be looking at … I think, frankly, the whole system would have would have melted down and fallen apart.»

CARE HOME COVID DEATHS 6X HIGHER IN LARGER FACILITIES

Coronavirus death rates in Scotland’s care homes were more than six times higher in larger facilities over the course of the pandemic, according to a report.

New figures from the Care Inspectorate watchdog show fatalities increased from 2.1 deaths per 100 places in facilities with up to 20 places to 12.6 deaths per 100 places in those with more than 80 places.

The watchdog has recorded more coronavirus-related deaths in care homes than the National Records of Scotland – 3,774 between March 16 2020 and March 31 2021 – although it said its data could not be of the same quality.

‘BILL GATES COULD NOT HAVE RUN UK’S GOVERNMENT RESPONSE’

Dominic Cummings has said no one could have run the UK’s early pandemic response well as the system was not in place.

Speaking to the Science and Health select committees, Cummings said that although Boris Johnson was not up to the job he was also let down by the disorganisation and incompetence of Whitehall.

He said if you dropped the «most competent person in the world» – such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates – they still would have had «an absolute nightmare» trying to run the UK’s Covid response as the system would have let them down.

«MATT HANCOCK SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED», CUMMINGS SAYS

Whitehall’s top official recommended to Boris Johnson that Health Secretary Matt Hancock should be fired over coronavirus failings, Dominic Cummings has claimed.

The Prime Minister’s former adviser said there were around 20 reasons why Mr Hancock should have been given the sack – including, he claimed, lying both in Cabinet room meetings and publicly.

He said Mr Hancock performed «disastrously» below the standards expected and the cabinet secretary – the country’s top civil servant – had recommended the Health Secretary should be sacked.

Cummings claimed that while Donald Trump was ordering the CIA to «gazump» rival countries on orders for personal protective equipment (PPE), the Department of Health was still trying to get orders from China by ship.

«I think the Secretary of State for Health should’ve been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the Cabinet room and publicly,» Cummings said.

«COMPLETELY CRACKERS» THAT PM WAS IN CHARGE

Dominic Cummings said it was «completely crackers» Boris Johnson was in charge and that thousands of people in the country could provide better leadership than the Prime Minister.

Cummings said the fact that the public had to choose between Mr Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election meant it was clear that the electoral system had «gone extremely, extremely badly wrong».

«There’s so many thousands and thousands of wonderful people in this country who could provide better leadership than either of those two,» he said.

«And there’s obviously something terribly wrong with the political parties if that’s the best that they can do.»

PM THOUGHT ECONOMIC EFFECTS WERE WORSE THAN COVID

Dominic Cummings said that Boris Johnson and other senior Whitehall figures believed in early March last year that the economic effects of coronavirus were worse than the disease.

The former chief aide to the Prime Minister told the Commons committee: «At this time, not just the Prime Minister but many other people thought that the real danger is not the health danger but the overaction to it and the economy.

«The Prime Minister said all the way through February and through the first half of March the real danger here isn’t this new swine flu thing, it’s that the reaction to it is going to cripple the economy.

«To be fair to the Prime Minister, although I think he was completely wrong, lots of other senior people in Whitehall had the same view, that the real danger was the economic one.»

FORMER MINISTER ON CUMMINGS’ EVIDENCE

Former minister Johnny Mercer has tweeted that he was asked to publicly defend Dominic Cummings – despite never having met him – and suggested ministers were being told to critcise him.

Mercer quit the Government earlier this year accusing Boris Johnson of dishonesty over a failure to stop Northern Ireland veterans from prosecution.