Boris Johnson’s chief of staff Dominic Cummings has claimed “nothing will change” in the wake of the devastating tainted blood report – as he accused Rishi Sunak of a “bullshit” apology.
The prime minister said Monday was “a day of shame” for Britain after the findings exposed a massive cover-up of the biggest healthcare failure in UK history.
The Infected Blood Inquiry pointed the finger at politicians, doctors and civil servants over a scandal that left 30,000 patients infected with HIV and hepatitis.
But Mr Cummings, who was also Mr Johnson’s chief adviser in No 10, claimed that in the wake of the report “nothing will change about how Whitehall works, there’ll be no accountability for senior people”.
He said Westminster had a “formula for bullshit apologies then quickly onto the next media bullshit” as he pointed to previous scandals from Iraq and Afghanistan to Covid and Post Offices, saying “they *never* change after each disaster except to get worse”.
He suggested that in preparation for the publication of reports like that into the tainted blood fiasco: “Officials prepare fake theatre for .. MPs / hacks, (Westminster) wallows in cheap sentiment for a day or so with practiced ‘tight lipped emotional’ faces & fake ‘never again’ statements ‘from all sides of the House’, & officials carry on applying the same corruption, lies, and incompetence to government that’s become par for the course.”
Mr Cummings, a long-time critic of Whitehall added that the “system is working as intended”.
Mr Cummings was Mr Johnson’s de facto chief of staff in No 10 during the Covid crisis, but he left Downing Street after the two men fell out.
Mr Johnson previously stood by him when he was at the centre of a furious outcry after it emerged that he had driven to County Durham during the first lockdown, after his wife fell ill with suspected coronavirus.
While there he also visited the Teesdale beauty sport Barnard Castle, in what he later claimed was a test to make sure he was fit to drive before setting off on the journey back to London.
In recent weeks he has unveiled plans for a new political party, the Start-Up Party, which he claims could replace the Conservatives.
The former head of the Vote Leave campaign has vowed that his new organisation would be “completely different from the other parties”.
