We now know Boris Johnson, supposedly in charge of protecting Britons from Covid, was derided by Ministers, scientists and senior public servants as a "vacillator", "oscillator", "bamboozled", "confused", "inconsistent" and a "flip-flopper".
Those criticisms are among many quoted in the UK Covid-19 Report released this week
to describe Johnson's failure to lead as Prime Minster.
The man who fancied himself as a latter day Winston Churchill turned out to be more like Winnie the Pooh, "a bear of very little brain."
"He cannot lead and we cannot support him in leading with this approach," Cabinet Secretary Simon Case told colleagues.
Advisor Dominic Cummings described Johnson as “bouncing back and forth” on the issue of whether to implement stringent restrictions, “according to who he spoke to last”.
He referred to Mr Johnson’s oscillation as “trolleying”. This term also came to be used by others to describe Mr Johnson’s leadership".
Mr Cummings told the Inquiry that one of the causes of dysfunction in the UK government’s response in the summer of 2020 was “the PM’s constant u-turns on key decisions and inability to stick to any strategy”.
He alleged Johnson had said: “‘No more fucking lockdowns – let the bodies pile high in their thousands’."
Professor Vallance noted the “ridiculous flip-flopping is getting worse”.
And on other occasions: “He is all over the place and completely inconsistent."
Worse, Johnson had begun: “to argue for letting it all rip. Saying yes, there will be more casualties but so be it – ‘they have had a good innings’ … PM then back on to ‘Most people who die have reached their time anyway’ … This all feels like a complete lack of leadership."
He also recorded that Johnson had acknowledged that the situation was a “total shambles”.
Cabinet Secretary Case sent a message to 10 Downing Street officials stating that Mr Johnson had done a “complete u-turn”. "The team captain cannot change the call on the big plays every day. The team can’t deliver anything under these circs … IT HAS TO STOP! Decide and set direction – deliver – explain. Gov’t isn’t actually that hard, but this guy is really making it impossible."
Part of the reason a mandatory lockdown was not announced until 23 March 2020 was that Johnson "oscillated between alternative policy options" and “backed and veered from supporting a lockdown to being incredibly concerned about the prospect of ordering a lockdown”, said Cummings.
The inquiry found that if the lockdown had been introduced a week earlier "the number of deaths in England in the first wave up until 1 July 2020 would have been reduced by 48% – equating to approximately 23,000 fewer deaths."
A government decision "had gone directly against the advice of its most senior scientific advisers."
"He is so inconsistent.”
"He wasn’t listening to the points we were making on those calls. And so I think engagement with him came to be seen as slightly pointless during this period.”
“PM still confused on different types of test (he holds it in his head for a session and then it goes).”
“Watching PM get his head round stats is awful. He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand...PM struggled with the whole concept of doubling times … just couldn’t get it".
The report found: "Some of those around Mr Johnson attributed a failure to act earlier to his inadequate leadership. Throughout September and October 2020, Mr Johnson continuously vacillated between policy options".
Appallingly. having been warned on February 4 2020 that Covid could kill up to 300,000 Britons, Johnson took his fiancee Carrie Symonds to the Government's grand Chevening country house or a two-week retreat.
The report says it does not appear that he was briefed, at all or to any significant extent, on Covid-19 and he received no daily updates and he sent only three communications to his office.
Johnson told the inquiry he accepted generally that he did not take the warnings seriously enough.
And Boris governed on the basis of one rule for the masses and no rules for the privileged few.
The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed that it had made 126 referrals for fixed penalty notices in respect of social events taking place within 10 Downing Street, in breach of the regulations at the time. Johnson confirmed he had received a fixed penalty notice for attending an event at 10 Downing Street on 19 June 2020
A senior public servant commented it “would find it hard to pick one day when the regulations were followed properly inside that building."
What a shambles!
Those criticisms are among many quoted in the UK Covid-19 Report released this week
to describe Johnson's failure to lead as Prime Minster.
The man who fancied himself as a latter day Winston Churchill turned out to be more like Winnie the Pooh, "a bear of very little brain."
"He cannot lead and we cannot support him in leading with this approach," Cabinet Secretary Simon Case told colleagues.
Advisor Dominic Cummings described Johnson as “bouncing back and forth” on the issue of whether to implement stringent restrictions, “according to who he spoke to last”.
He referred to Mr Johnson’s oscillation as “trolleying”. This term also came to be used by others to describe Mr Johnson’s leadership".
Mr Cummings told the Inquiry that one of the causes of dysfunction in the UK government’s response in the summer of 2020 was “the PM’s constant u-turns on key decisions and inability to stick to any strategy”.
He alleged Johnson had said: “‘No more fucking lockdowns – let the bodies pile high in their thousands’."
Professor Vallance noted the “ridiculous flip-flopping is getting worse”.
And on other occasions: “He is all over the place and completely inconsistent."
Worse, Johnson had begun: “to argue for letting it all rip. Saying yes, there will be more casualties but so be it – ‘they have had a good innings’ … PM then back on to ‘Most people who die have reached their time anyway’ … This all feels like a complete lack of leadership."
He also recorded that Johnson had acknowledged that the situation was a “total shambles”.
Cabinet Secretary Case sent a message to 10 Downing Street officials stating that Mr Johnson had done a “complete u-turn”. "The team captain cannot change the call on the big plays every day. The team can’t deliver anything under these circs … IT HAS TO STOP! Decide and set direction – deliver – explain. Gov’t isn’t actually that hard, but this guy is really making it impossible."
Part of the reason a mandatory lockdown was not announced until 23 March 2020 was that Johnson "oscillated between alternative policy options" and “backed and veered from supporting a lockdown to being incredibly concerned about the prospect of ordering a lockdown”, said Cummings.
The inquiry found that if the lockdown had been introduced a week earlier "the number of deaths in England in the first wave up until 1 July 2020 would have been reduced by 48% – equating to approximately 23,000 fewer deaths."
A government decision "had gone directly against the advice of its most senior scientific advisers."
"He is so inconsistent.”
"He wasn’t listening to the points we were making on those calls. And so I think engagement with him came to be seen as slightly pointless during this period.”
“PM still confused on different types of test (he holds it in his head for a session and then it goes).”
“Watching PM get his head round stats is awful. He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand...PM struggled with the whole concept of doubling times … just couldn’t get it".
The report found: "Some of those around Mr Johnson attributed a failure to act earlier to his inadequate leadership. Throughout September and October 2020, Mr Johnson continuously vacillated between policy options".
Appallingly. having been warned on February 4 2020 that Covid could kill up to 300,000 Britons, Johnson took his fiancee Carrie Symonds to the Government's grand Chevening country house or a two-week retreat.
The report says it does not appear that he was briefed, at all or to any significant extent, on Covid-19 and he received no daily updates and he sent only three communications to his office.
Johnson told the inquiry he accepted generally that he did not take the warnings seriously enough.
And Boris governed on the basis of one rule for the masses and no rules for the privileged few.
The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed that it had made 126 referrals for fixed penalty notices in respect of social events taking place within 10 Downing Street, in breach of the regulations at the time. Johnson confirmed he had received a fixed penalty notice for attending an event at 10 Downing Street on 19 June 2020
A senior public servant commented it “would find it hard to pick one day when the regulations were followed properly inside that building."
What a shambles!