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Ex-adviser slams UK’s handling of pandemic, says Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid on TV

Dominic Cummings apologised for the government’s failings in its handling of Covid-19 and called Johnson “unfit for the job”.

Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser has launched a blistering attack on the UK government’s disastrous handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

For seven hours, Dominic Cummings painted a devastating portrait of complacency and incompetence at the heart of government as Covid-19 arrived in Britain.

“The truth is that senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me fell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this,” he said

“When the public needed us most the government failed. And I’d like to say to all the families of those who have died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and my own mistakes of that.”

A controversial figure, Cummings, who quit his post in Downing Street last November, gave the most explosive allegation when he said on record that he’d personally heard the Prime Minister say he would rather see "bodies pile high" than impose a third lockdown on the public. It's a comment Downing Street has repeatedly denied.

Earlier in the morning, MPs grilled the former top aide as to why Johnson skipped Cobra emergency meetings at the start of last year, to which Cummings replied at the time the Prime Minister thought Covid-19 was just a ‘scare story’ and the ‘new swine flu’. He added the PM wanted to be injected with the coronavirus live on TV by his chief medical officer to show it was not harmful.

Boris Johnson today denied degrading his office.

“The Government itself and Number 10 was not operating on a war footing in February on this in any way, shape or form,” he claimed

“Lots of people were literally skiing in the middle of February. It wasn’t until the last week of February that there was really any sort of sense of urgency.”

Throughout his evidence, he went on to say Boris Johnson was ‘unfit’ for the job, but the Prime Minister defended his record.

“We’ve at every stage tried to minimise loss of life, to save lives, to protect the NHS and we’ve followed the best scientific advice that we can," he announced in the House of Commons.

Cummings also launched a stinging attack on Health Secretary Matt Hancock, admitting he and senior officials called for the PM to fire him for “at least 15 to 20 things, including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in many meetings”.

He accused the Health Secretary of "criminal, disgraceful behaviour" by interfering with the NHS test and trace system, which took too long to set up. In April 2020, he said the PM was close to firing Hancock but wouldn’t do it.

Hancock has rejected Cummings’ allegations.

Dominic Cummings travelled 400 kilometres with his wife and son as he was coming down with Covid-19.

Cummings is no stranger to controversy. He flouted lockdown rules while exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms when he drove his family from London to Durham in northeast England, a 400km drive, when travel was restricted for emergency situations only. He was viewed by many MPs and media as one of two most influential people in No 10 – the other Prime Minister.

Critics say Cummings' allegations should be taken with a bucket rather than a pinch of salt, accusing the former top aide of trying to salvage his own reputation as well as setting the narrative ahead of a public inquiry next year.

To date, nearly 128,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK.

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