Freedom Day has really pissed him off...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-overwhelm-nhs
Boris Johnson denied the NHS would be overwhelmed and said he was not prepared to lock down the country to save people in their 80s, texting his adviser “get Covid and live longer,” according to new WhatsApp messages released by Dominic Cummings.
In his first TV interview, the prime minister’s former chief adviser said Johnson held out on reimposing Covid restrictions because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80.”
Cummings also told the BBC that Johnson had been determined to go to see the Queen in person, despite people in Number 10 already ill with Covid in March 2020. Downing Street denies the account.
In WhatsApp messages, shared with the BBC, that were sent to aides in mid October, Johnson appears to say: “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer. Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive.
“And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate.”
Johnson also appears to text aides “There are max 3 m in this country aged over 80” and says “it shows we don’t go for nationwide lockdown.”
The new messages will cast further doubt over the actions of the prime minister in the run-up to the November lockdown, a time during which Cummings and other senior scientists have said the prime minister was fiercely opposed to lockdowns.
Cummings told the BBC that Johnson, who came close to death after he was hospitalised with Covid in April 2020, told meetings in Number 10 that he should never have agreed to the first lockdown.
He said Johnson referred to the Telegraph as “my real boss” and was extremely concerned about the reaction of the right-wing press and the Conservative party.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-overwhelm-nhs
Boris Johnson denied the NHS would be overwhelmed and said he was not prepared to lock down the country to save people in their 80s, texting his adviser “get Covid and live longer,” according to new WhatsApp messages released by Dominic Cummings.
In his first TV interview, the prime minister’s former chief adviser said Johnson held out on reimposing Covid restrictions because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80.”
Cummings also told the BBC that Johnson had been determined to go to see the Queen in person, despite people in Number 10 already ill with Covid in March 2020. Downing Street denies the account.
In WhatsApp messages, shared with the BBC, that were sent to aides in mid October, Johnson appears to say: “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer. Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive.
“And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate.”
Johnson also appears to text aides “There are max 3 m in this country aged over 80” and says “it shows we don’t go for nationwide lockdown.”
The new messages will cast further doubt over the actions of the prime minister in the run-up to the November lockdown, a time during which Cummings and other senior scientists have said the prime minister was fiercely opposed to lockdowns.
Cummings told the BBC that Johnson, who came close to death after he was hospitalised with Covid in April 2020, told meetings in Number 10 that he should never have agreed to the first lockdown.
He said Johnson referred to the Telegraph as “my real boss” and was extremely concerned about the reaction of the right-wing press and the Conservative party.
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