For the first time in his life, Boris Johnson was premature, joked one of his fellow party members. On Wednesday morning, the ex-prime minister arrived at the hearing location more than three hours before his session was due to start. His intention was probably to avoid a painful confrontation with the relatives of victims of the corona crisis.
He didn’t quite succeed. In the hearing room, a group of relatives held up notes: “The dead cannot hear your excuses.” It was leaked in advance that Johnson would apologize – again – for the mistakes made during the crisis. And indeed he did, right at the beginning.
In the United Kingdom it is an independent investigation working on decision-making during the corona pandemic. The investigative committee has obtained access to WhatsApp conversations, emails and diaries of politicians, senior civil servants and ex-advisers. Experienced lawyers interrogate the key players, under oath, in detail about their actions. On Wednesday it was Boris Johnson’s turn, at that time Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.
Johnson had to defend himself on two fronts, which also intertwined. His attitude during the first weeks of the crisis was dissected one day at a time. In addition, there were questions about the toxic working atmosphere in his cabinet. Because at that time things were rough in Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives and the Ministry of General Affairs and the Ministry of Finance are located. The ex-prime minister alternated between humility and defensive comments.
Ernst underestimates
The UK was in its first year of the coronavirus pandemic after Italy the highest death toll of Western Europe and adopted lockdown measures a week or two later than other European countries. Johnson disputed that the UK had done relatively poorly and said he did not know whether his government policies had had an impact. He attributes the high mortality rates to “an elderly population with many chronic conditions” and the fact that the UK is densely populated.
Johnson later admitted that he had underestimated the severity of the coronavirus and the speed at which it spread. Because warnings of many deaths from diseases such as bird flu and mad cow disease in the past were not too bad, the ex-prime minister said, he thought that things would not progress at such a pace now. Although Johnson did not inquire too extensively; for example, he usually did not read the advice of the scientific advisory group Sage, comparable to the Outbreak Management Team in the Netherlands. “I was more than satisfied with the clear summaries I received.”
This attitude is consistent with what scientists and senior officials stated during previous hearings, namely that it “was hard work” to teach Johnson the background to the spread of Covid-19. Scientific advisor Patrick Vallance told the investigative committee that Johnson occasionally “bamboozled“, was confused by all the information. Not exceptional, Vallance also said: during a European consultation of advisors, everyone burst out laughing when one of them said that his government leader found exponential curves difficult to understand. It was like that everywhere.
Lawyer Hugo Keith asked Johnson about all kinds of WhatsApp conversations that showed how unsafe the working atmosphere in and around his cabinet was. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, also the head of the national civil service, wrote in an app group that he had “never seen a bunch of people so ill-equipped to lead a country.”
Toxic work atmosphere
Case later wrote that it was difficult to attract new people because of the “toxic work atmosphere.” Another senior official called the Johnson administration “cruel, useless and demotivating to work for.” According to them, John-son’s political advisor Dominic Cummings was one of the problems – Case texted colleagues that Cummings “continuously informs the media” without consulting the rest. “These people are so crazy.”
Cummings, in turn, called a civil servant a bitch and urged Johnson to sack Matt Hancock, health secretary. “Hancock is not suitable for this job. The incompetence, the constant lies…”
Johnson did not want such negativity to influence decision-making. He thought a critical attitude was healthier than “always texting each other how brilliantly we have done everything.” He did not openly attack any of his officials or ex-cabinet colleagues and did not engage in finger-pointing, as had happened in previous interrogations. Johnson did say that he was constantly lobbied about dismissals of ministers. “That is part of life in politics.”
The committee has set aside another full day for Johnson on Thursday and the weekly drinks at Downing Street will probably also be discussed. It may therefore be exciting for current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer during the pandemic. Sunak introduced it in the summer of 2020 Eat Out to Help Outprogram, a subsidy to help Brits cross the threshold into going to restaurants.
A scientific advisor mentioned Sunak in app conversations Dr. Death – he would not have asked for advice on the measure, even though it was clearly risky.
And although Johnson stated on Wednesday that he is also ultimately responsible for Eat Out to Help Out, it is very tempting for him to be critical of Sunak. It was Sunak who initiated Johnson’s fall as prime minister in June 2022 by resigning and no longer supporting Johnson.
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