Boris Johnson has brushed aside claims by his former aide Dominic Cummings that the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was “disastrous”.
In an interview with Sky News following Cummings’ explosive testimony, the prime minister said the former Vote Leave supremo’s allegations do not “bear any relation to reality”.
Mr Johnson insisted that the government had done “everything” to save lives, protect the NHS and “protect care homes as well” at the height of the pandemic.
Mr Hancock previously said a “protective ring” had been thrown around care homes, a claim which is disputed by the sector and branded “nonsense” by Mr Cummings yesterday.
Speaking to reporters today, Mr Johnson also refused to answer questions on whether or not he said he would rather let the “bodies pile high” than order a third lockdown – a claim he has previously denied.
Earlier, Matt Hancock also denied a string of accusations from Mr Cummings, including that he had lied repeatedly to officials and the public throughout the pandemic.
Appearing before MPs in the Commons to answer an urgent question on Thursday, Mr Hancock said Mr Cummings’ “unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true”.
Matt Hancock wrongly claims ‘tens of thousands’ being jabbed each day in Bolton
Matt Hancock massively exaggerated the rate of vaccination in coronavirus hotspot Bolton in the House of Commons today.
The health secretary told MPs that jabs were going into arms in the northwest town at a rate of “tens of thousands every single day”.
But official government statistics show that daily inoculations have never topped 5,500 in Bolton, and have hovered around the 2,000 mark in recent days.
Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports:
Full report: Boris Johnson refuses to answer on Dominic Cummings’ claims he bungled Covid response
Boris Johnson has declined to rebut Dominic Cummings’ explosive claims that he bungled his Covid response, leading to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
Quizzed one day after the allegations, the prime minister ducked an invitation to reject them as false – instead saying: “I make no comment on that.’
Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick reports:
Matt Hancock has questions to answer – but transparency is a flexible friend for this government
Answering an urgent question in the Commons today, Matt Hancock deliberately refused to engage with what he admitted were ‘serious allegations’, writes Andrew Grice.
This is in line with the government’s wider strategy not to rebut Cummings’s long list of claims about how the pandemic was mishandled.
Hancock dodged Cummings’s incendiary charge that tens of thousands of people died unnecessarily. At every opportunity, he turned the spotlight on the successful vaccine rollout.
Boris Johnson and his ministers have adapted the US political strategists’ mantra of “it’s the economy, stupid”, to “it’s the vaccine, stupid”.
Read Andrew’s full piece here:
Boris Johnson defends ‘rolling out the red carpet’ for right-wing Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán
Downing Street has defended Boris Johnson’s decision to “roll out the red carpet” for right-wing autocrat Viktor Orbán.
Hungary’s authoritarian leader is to visit Downing Street on Friday for talks with the prime minister — one of the first EU leaders to visit since Brexit.
Our policy correspondent Jone Stone reports:
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK demands meeting with Johnson and Hancock next week
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group is demanding a meeting with Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock next week.
Their request comes less than 24 hours after the PM’s former aide Dominic Cummings claimed thousands of lives have been lost unnecessarily during the pandemic.
In a withering statement, the group said both the PM and health secretary have refused to meet with them on several occasions.
“In Parliament Matt Hancock claimed that he and the Govt has a track record of openness, transparency & explanation & that they ‘will keep on with the spirit of openness and transparency,” the group said.
“Over 2,660 questions have been answered in Parliament but he has refused to answer a single one from us – how can he when both himself and the Prime Minister have refused to meet with us directly on seven occasions?”
Full statement here:
ICYMI: It’s hard to see Dominic Cummings returning to politics now – but just how damaged is Boris Johnson?
Whatever his motivations, Cummings has shone a light on government failings that would have remained in the dark without his fireworks display, writes Andrew Grice.
Read Andrew’s full piece here:
Cathy Newman: Cummings once advertised for ‘weirdos and misfits’ to join him – now we see why
No wonder he seems to have fallen out with every single boss he’s ever worked with – severing ties one by one with former party leader Iain Duncan Smith, the Leave campaign and now Johnson himself, writes Cathy Newman. He doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere.
Read Cathy’s full piece on yesterday’s events here:
Starmer vague on whether he believes Cummings over Johnson
Asked whether he believed what Dominic Cummings told MPs yesterday, Keir Starmer asked: “It’s Hobson’s Choice. You have got Dominic Cummings on one hand and the prime minister on the other.
“I don’t think Dominic Cummings should have the last word on this and that’s why all the evidence should be put before the committee, the health secretary should answer the allegations and the inquiry should be fast-forwarded.
“It’s not about taking anyone’s word, it’s about getting to the bottom of it.
“We also have to look at the other evidence.
“We know people were discharged from hospitals to care homes without tests, we know protective equipment didn’t get to the frontline on time and we know the prime minister was slow to lock down, particularly in the autumn and we know the consequence of that was the highest death toll in Europe.”
Starmer maintains pressure on Johnson over Cummings claims
Keir Starmer has said that bereaved families deserve answers about the government’s handling of coronavirus, following Dominic Cummings’ evidence to MPs.
During a visit to the Bristol Port Company with West of England metro mayor Dan Norris, Sir Keir said the allegations made by the former No 10 adviser were “very serious”.
“They are very serious allegations from Dominic Cummings about the chaos and the incompetence of the decision-making in the Government and there are consequences for that in relation to those that died,” he said.
“What we need to do is put what Dominic Cummings said alongside the facts we know – that we have one of the highest death tolls in Europe.
“The families who have lost someone are entitled to answers in relation to this because bad decisions have consequences and in this case the consequence, I’m afraid is unnecessary deaths.”
Yesterday Sir Keir’s deputy, Angela Rayner, called for the public inquiry into Covid-19 to be brought forward from 2022, as did Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader and the Royal College of Nursing.
Mr Cummings did the same in his evidence session, warning that by 2022 memories will have changed and important documents will have been lost.
Dominic Cummings: How papers reacted to explosive claims at Covid hearing
Explosive revelations by Dominic Cummings about how the govenrment responded to the coronavirus pandemic feature on the front of many of Thursday’s papers.
The former aide’s marathon seven-hour session of evidence to MPs provided plenty of incendiary claims, with some calling it a “rain of fire” and others a “Domshell”, writes Samuel Osborne.
