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Boris Johnson has claimed he considered sending the British Army on a daring raid to snatch Covid-19 vaccines from an EU warehouse, although he rejected the idea, saying: “The whole thing was nuts.”
The former prime minister demanded of senior military leaders whether he could launch a mission to a warehouse where the EU had stowed five million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with global supplies dwindling in the height of lockdown.
Mr Johnson Johnson’s book, Unleashed, is being serialised in the Daily Mail and as well as defending his actions during “Partygate” and writing about his experiences in hospital with Covid, he discusses his wranglings with the EU after his post-Brexit deal was put in place.
He wrote: “I was angry enough to contemplate this clandestine operation, because after two months of futile negotiation I had come to the conclusion that the EU was treating us with malice and with spite; not because we had done anything wrong – we had not, far from it; but because we were vaccinating our population much faster than they were, and the European electorate had long since noticed.”
Watch: Who will be the next leader of the Conservatives?
Labour freebies: The gifts Starmer and other MPs have accepted as PM under fire
Boris Johnson has spoken of the moment he handed over Prime Ministerial responsibility to Dominic Raab
Boris Johnson has written of the moment he handed before he went to the ICU suffering with Covid-19.
Writing in Unleashed, serialised in Mail + he said: “With the oximeter on my finger, we could see that my oxygen levels started slowly to creep up again, and I began to feel sleepy. Before I folded, there was one thing I had to do.
“I rang Dominic Raab. ‘First Secretary of State,’ I said.
“‘PM,’ he said. “‘You know I said that you might have to deputise for me,’ I said.
“‘Yes, PM.’
“‘Well, that moment has come.’
“‘No problem, PM,’ he said. ‘Get well soon.’
“He didn’t sound remotely rattled – in fact, he went on to do an outstanding job.”
If Mr Johnson had died, Mr Raab would have taken over as caretaker prime minister while a successor was chosen from a leadership election.
Watch: Starmer warns Israel-Hezbollah clashes risk triggering wider regional war
Boris Johnson said he paid the partygate fine because ‘he had a lot on’
Boris Johnson has insisted he didn’t see anything illegal at his Downing Street birthday party writing in his memoir Unleashed, being serialised in Mail +.
Writing about the fallout of the event he said: “I relied upon Sue Gray, who (though I did not know this) had already been approached to be the chief of staff to Ed Miliband, former Labour leader, and who was to go on to be the chief of staff to Keir Starmer, my number one political foe.
“Some of the allegations in her report – vomiting, fights and so on – turned out to be untrue, and had to be withdrawn.
“As for all the other fines that were issued – more than 120 fixed penalty notices – the answer is of course that I don’t know. I wasn’t there, or didn’t see anything that looked illegal. If the fines were like mine, they must have been a bit puzzling.
“But what could I do? I paid the fine and got on with the job. I had a lot on.”
ICYMI: What was announced in Starmer’s Labour conference speech?
Defence Secretary watching Israeli ground invasion rumours ‘really carefully’
Defence Secretary John Healey is looking at a rumoured Israeli ground invasion into Lebanon “really carefully”.
Mr Healey said on Friday airstrikes and rocket fire exchanged between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah present a “risk that this escalates into something that is much wider and much more serious”.
Defence Secretary John Healey is looking at a rumoured Israeli ground invasion into Lebanon “really carefully”.
Mr Healey said on Friday airstrikes and rocket fire exchanged between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah present a “risk that this escalates into something that is much wider and much more serious”.
Asked about the rumoured ground invasion, Mr Healey replied: “We’re watching this really carefully. That will be a matter for the Israelis.
“At the moment, it’s airstrikes. At the moment, there are missiles from the Lebanese Hezbollah directed at Israel. This conflict serves no one.”
Boris Johnson claims the Downing Street event that sparked the partygate scandal was ‘feeblest event in the history of human festivity’
Boris Johnson has insisted that he had no birthday cake at the Downing Street event that launched the Partygate scandal.
The former Prime Minister wrote in Unleashed being serialised Mail +: “I saw no cake. I ate no blooming cake. If this was a party, it was the feeblest event in the history of human festivity.
“I had only just got over Covid. I did not sing. I did not dance. I ate a salad – but then it was lunchtime, and I do normally eat at my desk. I did not meet anyone that I don’t meet in the course of the working day.”
The scandal contributed to Boris Johnson‘s downfall as Prime Minister and his resignation as an MP.
He added: “I have no idea what version of events people gave the police. But I very much doubt that it was fair. I was obviously vulnerable to the testimony of some who were determined to bring me down.”
Exclusive: Starmer saved by Tory leadership chaos in Labour poll slide over freebies row
Boris Johnson realised he had Covid-19 when he couldn’t finish the cheese in the fridge
The former Prime Minister has claimed he knew he was suffering from life-threatening Covid when he couldn’t finish the cheese in the fridge.
He wrote in Unleashed being serialised in Mail +: “By Sunday, April 5, there were more than 1,000 daily fatalities across the country. I was still flat out, floating in and out of consciousness, waiting for my fix of paracetamol, when Carrie came in like a ministering angel.
“‘Come on,’ she said. ‘You need to get something to eat.’
“I said that the kitchen really felt a long way away. So she brought up some apple and cheese. I looked at that cheese with such complete apathy that I knew – after a lifetime as a functioning cheese-oholic – that something was definitely awry.
He added: “Carrie rang Dr Price and explained things, and then passed the phone to me. He wanted me to come in right away, to St Thomas’ Hospital. No, no, I said… You have got to come in, he said. You have now spent too long getting worse, and it has got to the stage where it could go either way.”
