THE PRIME Minister has disputed the evidence of his former closest adviser, saying his government had made a "an incredibly difficult series of decisions".
Mr Johnson was asked about Dominic Cummings claims, including that he was unfit for office, and denied the assertion that Government failures had led to tens of thousands of unecessary deaths.
He was probed about Mr Cummings comments during a visit to a hospital in Essex this morning.
Asked whether those deaths were due to his “action or inaction”, Mr Johnson said: “No, I don’t think so.
“Of course this has been an incredibly difficult series of decisions, none of which we have taken lightly.”
He insisted that “at every stage we have been governed by a determination to protect life”.
Asked whether he said he would rather see “bodies pile high” than order a third lockdown, Boris Johnson said: “I have already made my position very clear on that point.
“I’m getting on with the job of delivering the road map that I think is the sensible way forward.”
Mr Johnson has previously denied making the comment, which Dominic Cummings told MPs he heard from the Prime Minister in his Downing Street study.
Asked if Mr Cummings told the truth, Mr Johnson dodged the question.
Pressed on whether he was arguing with the things Mr Cummings said, the Prime Minister said: “I make no comment on that.”
Apart from his damning assessment of Mr Johnson, Mr Cummings saved his fiercest criticism for Mr Hancock over failings around care homes policy, personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement and his public pledge on a testing target which caused disruption in Whitehall.
Cummings said there were "15 or 20" reasons why the Health Secretary should have been sacked, accusing him of lying to ministers and the public.
Mr Hancock has said that many of the former adviser's evidence was unsubstantiated and he had been honest throughout the pandemic.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel