(London) Undecided, overwhelmed by events, little concerned about the victims… Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticized by his former advisers for his management of COVID-19 on Tuesday during the public inquiry devoted to the pandemic .
We already knew that the former conservative leader had procrastinated in the face of the emergence of the coronavirus, putting the threat into perspective then delaying imposing confinements, which were among the harshest in Europe.
But the testimonies of those around him as well as the documents published by the vast commission of inquiry launched in June into the health crisis, which has caused more than 230,000 deaths in the United Kingdom, have painted an even more dismaying picture from behind closed doors. power in spring 2020.
Already becoming a symbol of this period, the emoji with which his teams described him in their exchanges on WhatsApp, made public: a supermarket shopping cart, likely to be pushed or drift in all directions.
“Almost everyone called him a caddy, yes,” confirmed his powerful chief of staff at the time, Dominic Cummings, questioned for several hours by the commission of inquiry.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Dominic Cummings
The latter, known for his outspokenness, his abrupt methods and his desire to shake up the administration, more generally described a “system that did not work”.
“It was the wrong crisis for the Prime Minister’s skills,” said Lee Cain, former director of communications at Downing Street. “He was someone who often pushed back decisions, took advice from multiple sources and changed decisions. ‘opinion on different subjects’.
This can be “a great strength” in politics, but the pandemic required “quick decisions” and “people who stand their ground”, he added: “It is decided based on the last person in the room consulted . It’s quite exhausting.”
” Unable ”
After examining how the country was prepared for the health crisis, the commission of inquiry, expected to last at least three years and chaired by Judge Heather Hallett, looks into governance and political management of the appearance of the virus.
She thus dissects a period which marked the beginning of the fall of Boris Johnson, himself hospitalized in intensive care for a few days in the spring of 2020, because he was suffering from COVID-19.
In addition to his reversals in the face of the waves of the epidemic, he has been criticized for his nonchalance which allowed parties to be held in Downing Street despite the restrictions.
This “partygate” scandal largely contributed to the resignation of the former prime minister in the summer of 2022. He then resigned his seat as an MP in June after being found guilty of lying about it in Parliament , ending speculation about a return to power.
On Monday, advisor Martin Reynolds told how Boris Johnson was blowing “hot and cold” while WhatsApp messages from Downing Street general secretary Simon Case – the country’s most senior civil servant – were very harsh towards the Prime Minister, “ incapable of leading.”
” I am on my knees. It changes its strategic direction every day,” Mr. Case wrote.
The diary kept by the government’s chief scientific advisor at the time, Patrick Vallance, drives the point home by reporting “crazy” exchanges with the former prime minister.
“He says his party “thinks this whole thing (the lockdowns, Editor’s note) is pathetic and that COVID-19 is just nature’s way of taking care of the elderly” and I’m not sure he do not agree,” he wrote in December 2020, as a new wave was looming.
If part of public opinion criticizes Boris Johnson for his indecision and his temptation to let the virus run wild, a section of the conservative press now openly criticizes health restrictions, deeming them repressive and ineffective.