Boris Johnson 'failed' Britain due to 'inability' to handle covid pandemic | Jack Straw

“The mindset was wrong. There was too much groupthink.”
Boris Johnson and his government failed to put in place measures they “could easily have made,” which would have eased the pandemic effect, says former home secretary Jack Straw.
📻 Listen to Times Radio - www.thetimes.c...
📍 Subscribe to our channel - / @listentotimesradio
🗞 Subscribe to The Times www.thetimes.c...
📲 Get the free Times Radio app www.thetimes.c...

[@annishilcock4587]

WHY ARE INTERVIEWING GULLIS; HE IS NOW AN EX MP:::BECAUSE NOBODY WANTED TO LISTEN TO HIM ANYMORE!

[@soot.2146]

Johnsons brain was in his " Johnson" simple as that..

[@Mandeley100]

He's probably the only Tory willing to face the camera (and doubtless there's a fee involved). He really needs to cut down on the eye liner!!

[@AkiraTwin]

The room is almost as empty as his head.

[@rawheadrex8487]

Why would any serious news channel have Gullis on as a guest?

[@annishilcock4587]

The choice of most of their guests shows they aren't a serious news channel.

[@hypsyzygy506]

They're a Tory channel.

[@ajw9533]

"A plague on all houses?" How ignorant is he?

[@Dbdbe1]

Gullis? Why? He’s very very thick and isn’t an MP any more

[@michaelbrian219]

Johnson was the biggest joke in parliament at the time and was totally unfit to have any form of responsibility and still is.

[@emoven369]

So when does the criminal investigation begin ?

[@Nice0n3]

Why do they interview a random guy from the unemployed line at the jobcentre?

[@milo2324]

😂😂😂

[@royboy565]

Gullis thinks he is relevant.

[@howardvarley8795]

Because he comes cheap.

[@KevinMurphy0403]

Boris didn’t appear to be under pressure in the images of him drinking and partying in Downing Street as the plebs were locked down.

[@gmorgan894]

Partying while pensioners were dying alone.

like starmer and rayner.........😮

[@tonyedwards3938]

@@gmorgan894 And not PERMITTED to attend their funerals. Crimminal.

[@vylbird8014]

@@tonyedwards3938 Usually people crying "Criminal!" are exaggerating, but in this case yes: Lockdown violation actually /was/ criminal. But not the go-to-prison sort of criminal - the penalty was a fixed penalty fine, which attendees paid. £50 per violation per person. I'm sure Boris can afford it - his net worth is estimated at £90 Million.

[@de6584]

Because he knew it was nonsense.

[@SarahTheNearlyInSP]

Funny how dismissive Johnson was at the start of it all....

[@kenmay1572]

But then blew (wasted) £36 billion trying to fix his procrastination on track and trace plus a few billion on faulty PPE.

[@honestchris7472]

No, it was more the people that did not believe it at the start and even now we have the fools that still believe that it was just the flu. If Boris had have acted earlier, the vast amount of the people would have ignored the rules because they were only advisory at first.

[@honestchris7472]

@@kenmay1572 and all on the advice from the World Health Organisation and trying to do the best for the people, there was a lot of money made that should not have been made but a lot of that money was to keep those that could not work with 80% of their earnings on furlough. If he had not taken the steps that he did, the death rate would have been a lot higher than that because at one point we were losing 1500 people a day.

[@royboy565]

​@@honestchris7472His actions or lack of them cost lives.

[@honestchris7472]

@@royboy565 Or, perhaps his actions saved many lives because he took the actions, his aim was to stop the spread of the virus based on the advice that he had from the WHO and that advice would have been exactly the same if any other party was in office at that time at its height, we were losing 1500 people a day, getting us the vaccine was a turning point but we all know that after the first lockdown, we got a bit of freedom and then far too many people ignored the advice and the ruling to control the spread of the virus and when out partying, to beaches to large gatherings and mixed in each other houses, the result was another lock down but we had the vaccine and it had worked after the first lockdown and we were lucky in the second because the coronavirus mutated to a less dangerous strain.

[@royboy565]

Gullis's attitude and arrogance sums up why the tories lost so many seats. People will accept arrogance if you are doing a good job but he was a member of the worst govt ever to hold office in the UK.

[@normanchristie4524]

Simple Johnson was, is, a nonentity.

[@michaelwells6797]

Johnson was utterly unfit to be PM.

[@annewalden3795]

Michael you are right but the Tories bought into his act hook, line and sinker.

[@stephenyoung8612]

Gullis......continuing to make excuses for the most useless PM this country ever had or could ever have. Please never ask his opinion again.....ever!

[@meganpodmore9766]

Because they thought it would only affect the elderly

[@andersman666]

How on earth could Boris dither, when he wasn't at the COBRA meetings

[@annewalden3795]

I think Boris did dither because he he wanted to escape responsibility. His non attendance at Cobra meetings was deliberate and part of his evasion of Prime Ministerial decision making .There was no way Boris could please his girl friend and his senior advisor so he kept on prevaricating even though it was the wrong thing to do for the U K.

[@user-gn7cm6db2d]

Thankfully Gullis is no longer an effective force, not that he was anyway,if he's back at teaching i pity his pupil's.

[@normanchristie4524]

Osborne 'de-nationalised' the UK emergency stockpiles. The Observer highlighted these shortcomings!

[@geovanniali6060]

Good old agent Boris❤

[@michaelscott7191]

The worst possible prime minister for a time of crisis.

[@prideofdurham4776]

Mr Johnson did very well out of the plandemic thank you , ask his bank manager.😃

[@tonyedwards3938]

And the Americans, his paymasters.

[@prideofdurham4776]

Yes , at least 615 million doses @ £10 a shot given to Americans and 315 BILLION worldwide .Ker-effing-ching!

[@annewalden3795]

Pride of Durham that is why he needs to be audited.

[@soot.2146]

@@prideofdurham4776 He let the " Red Wall" labour voters down by not believing in a good Brexit for GB, his whole family are self serving elites, who quite frankly will never worry about,war,no food, debt or cold, there ,s something radically wrong in society?, which Liebour can't fix my view.

[@DavidCooper-rv6wg]

He couldnt handle a packet of crisps

[@MichealHarris-il6zi]

Yuk it's Gullis !

[@raymondg7565]

The Tories, not just Boris, failed the UK.

[@God-ub8fn]

I am surprized Times Radio has not blamed Russia for this ....

[@robertdarby6553]

There should have been a health warning, so we could be prepared to have to listen to Gobby Gullis.

[@richardwimbush2064]

Jonathon fing Gullis. GTF Times Radio.

[@TranquiloTrev]

These people are completely ignorant of Public Health. All the systems necessary to deal with the pandemic were in place before "Austerity". Covid was SARS2. Does anyone remember SARS1 in 2003 ?

[@vylbird8014]

That's part of the problem. SARS1 could have been a global pandemic, but wasn't. So could SARS2. And MERS. But those were all caught and contained early on. This lead to complacency: When yet another disease came along and scientists warned this could be the bad one, no national leaders wanted to ruin their economy with harsh lockdown measures right away for a disease that would probably just pass unnoticed like the last four or five.

[@stevenvater2681]

Are you aware of operation sygnet??

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

@@vylbird8014 And by the time they realized the danger, the virus was already spreading across Europe. Lockdowns were only introduced to slow that spread, so that health services could cope. Not stop it.

[@johnmoore9862]

No.

[@magnacarta9364]

Lol he is a traitor.

[@garyholyhead]

Gullis is empty room ..... fight!! 😃

[@rjy8960]

Hasn't Gullis got a job recruiting and educating the new youth division?

[@johnblackshaw7282]

Gullis's signature tune used to be "We Got All the Big Call's Right". Johnson- "Let the body's pile high".

[@zoolhert3535]

99.9% survival rate

[@PatrickMcGowan-ch4ho]

Gullis can't even do think nevermind groupthink.😁

[@tonysheerness2427]

98% chance of survival what a joke.

[@HJJSL-bl8kk]

I survived, but only just. My life is very different to what it was, in a very bad way. Well over four years later I can barely climb my own stairs.

[@tonysheerness2427]

@@HJJSL-bl8kk The illness or what they injected into you?

[@royboy565]

​@@HJJSL-bl8kkYet there are people who think covid was a scam etc, I lost people through covid. Some people in the UK think everything is a conspiracy.

[@nottooherbal]

Where are all the geniuses who took all the right decisions ?

[@annewalden3795]

Try Sweden.

[@stephenjon3502]

Gullis’s office looks busy 😂

[@MarkWilliams-rd5jf]

Im not defending the Tories un anyway shape or form........ but where are the medical advisers who took the knighthoods & the big bonuses ....... surely they need to be held accountable too

[@johnmoore9862]

What big bonus did Chris Witty get?

[@lordveteran9126]

🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 wow.... can we have 2 years of our lives back?.... plus damages....no..? Oh shame.... dident beleave a WORD of it from day one....🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@Pablo-ye1wy]

“Prepared for the wrong pandemic?” So what was ’Event 201’ all about then? 😂🫣😂

[@ECECECECEC]

Gullis? Really? Desperation.

[@BellEnd-or2nh]

SCAMDEMIC!

[@Cherrytune386]

Gillis sticking up for BJ. 🤬🤮👹🤮🤮

[@mickrobinson8150]

No one could have predicted or managed that.

[@JayDeeChannel]

Lock down was political expediency at its worst.

[@TimesFM4532]

So much pressure he was out in the Garden drinking

[@raymondhawthorn8425]

What about the scientists and the world health organisation

[@narrativequestion]

dont mention the war...

[@annewalden3795]

Raymond the WHO could only advise just like the scientists .

[@HJJSL-bl8kk]

I caught Covid in early March 2020. It has left me permanently severely affected. Pubs were still open etc. Although I didn't go out, I caught it from someone who trusted that the government knew what they were doing.

[@vylbird8014]

It got worse - four months later the government was outright subsidising pubs with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, desperately /paying/ people to go and eat socially indoors in a desperate attempt to save hospitality businesses from collapse.

[@annewalden3795]

Do I gather you broke the rules by associating with someone who also had broken the rules HJ S L ?

[@HJJSL-bl8kk]

@@annewalden3795 There were no rules then, but there should have been.

[@annewalden3795]

@@HJJSL-bl8kk Yes people would have benefited from early guidance .

[@HJJSL-bl8kk]

@@annewalden3795 I was worried about transmission in early February 2020 after talking with an oncology nurse (a friend was having chemo back then). The person I caught Covid from trusted that the government would do the right thing. They are wracked with guilt that I nearly died. I don't hold them responsible but I know who I blame. I think Boris Johnson is a self-centred buffoon who didn't give a toss.

[@Bob_Burton]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

[@royboy565]

True but they didn't prepare and locked down too late then made error after error.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

@@royboy565 Bearing in mind lockdowns were only introduced to slow the spread of the virus so that health services wouldnt be overwhelmed (which they weren't), and that a vaccine was thought to be years away, when should we have had a lockdown and what difference would it have made?

[@problemsolverthinktank859]

Tories shouldn’t be putting pressure on anyone but themselves to get their party together.

[@michaelbardeleben4519]

Ok…..so how can we all file a law suit claim and get the financial remuneration we all deserve?

[@jamesdavey7014]

Scientific advisors and civil servant have more to answer for. This report is is a joke easy to point the finger in hindsight !

[@Security848]

could of been worse labour would of done lockdown even longer.

[@royboy565]

Labour told Johnson to lock down earlier like the scientists wanted. Johnson ignored them and caused many more deaths..

[@davidbarrett1006]

Gullis speaking from an empty room - says it all really.

[@vinceturner3276]

Well the uk was warned about the Teflon Tories Brexit and Bonzo the clown Johnson but they wouldn’t listen the state of this country is their fault no one else’s only them.

[@garethjones6566]

Gullis W⚓

[@rogereynon4954]

Only worth Gullis being on this to hear him say something nice about a Labour MP (Pat Mcfadden). Gullis now has less legitimacy about him than he did whilst an MP himself. Asking him to comment on Tory pandemic failure is like asking the accused to be their own judge and jury. What's the point? The less we see of him the better along with Liz Truss and co.

[@geoffm9944]

Johnson was completely lost when it came to making executive decisions during covid. He accepted lock stock and barrel the recommendations of SAGE. He didn’t seek clinical advice elsewhere so he essentially delegated government decision making to a clinical three wise men. Johnson sanctioned three lock downs which is unforgivable.The economy was traumatised as was the NHS and the education system. However, Johnson failed to see the disastrous consequences on these three areas as he never thought things through.

[@markbanner6473]

Pretty much every Country had lockdowns. I mean who wouldn't believe experts right. So called experts and MSM I blame much more than Boris. Vast majority of Countries did lockdowns. Some longer and more often than the UK. We came out of lockdowns pretty much the first in Europe. Experts an MSM telling us that all those people were dying of covid didn't help when it comes to spreading fear. But we now know many people died with covid not of covid. At the time however experts recorded those deaths as dying of covid.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

There were no cost free options. But its very likely lockdowns were the least worse option.

[@badbooks476]

From the Covid Enquiry, Johnson did not have the application to understand his advisors & is very difficult to work with, so he made loads of unnecessary mistakes. Eat out to Help Out was a decision taken by Sunak & Johnson, unbeknown to the Advisors, which caused a later lockdown

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

@@badbooks476 Lockdowns were only ever introduced to slow the spread to allow health services to cope. Not to stop it.

[@badbooks476]

@@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304 Thanks, but I never said that

[@dannyherbert4482]

his first plan was herd immunity, which most people have now, he shouldnt of acted at all, the lockdowns did way more harm than good, if he had just stuck to his original plan and not bent the knee to people complaining he would of saved a lot of people a lot of pain

[@royboy565]

It is estimated by health experts that lockdowns saved thousands of deaths.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

Herd immunity, something that the Dutch government went with (I know, because I watched Mark Rutte the then prime minister announce it) was basically the exact same plan that the UK went with. Because there was no other choice without a vaccine. Lockdowns were part of that plan. They were introduced to slow the virus, not stop it. Because without them health services would not have been able to cope.

[@sadiswan]

Quick! Run the COVID story so no one notices the 100,000 new UK passports being printed!

[@royboy565]

It was always due to start now. Even if tories won this would still be happening.

[@RobertFerguson-t5l]

Boris you did the best judgment,respect to you.

[@royboy565]

You must be one of those people. You can fool some of the people all of the time.

[@chelseaguy70]

Of course we needed another enquiry to tell us this at the cost of millions of pounds. I said this as it was happening and it was absolutely free. Fewer enquiries and more action when it comes to holding government officials accountable. Of course that as with other enquiries nothing will ever become of them. Oh yes more millions of pounds down the drain.

[@andrewrose7800]

The Enquiry seems to reckon the world Governments should have the power of hindsight. UK acted on advice, the same as the devolved Governments.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

Yes

[@royboy565]

I'm sure the govt wasn't told to buy defective ppe from pub landlords or have a useless track and trace system and have parties in the middle of it all.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

@@royboy565 During the worldwide scramble for ppe, the government did what any government should have done - Took its chances and grabbed what it could.

[@royboy565]

​@@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304No they didn't, they gave the orders to their cronies and didn't go through the normal procedure which had been quickened up substantially because of the pandemic. It is on record that a friend of Hancock, a pub landlord was given a contract and Michelle Mone and her husband also. Take your blinkers off.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

@@royboy565 Plane full of ppe for the UK sat on a Turkish runway. Delayed for we don't know what reason. We will likely never know what strings were pulled to finally get that in the air. When it landed and was inspected, it was rejected as being not up to standard. You grab what you can from where you can.

[@giovannisoave9634]

Boris was too weak for PM.

[@simon8864]

Boris failed because the media and his own party stabbed him in the back. He wss given terrible advice and any mistakes he made were exaggerated tenfold! I'm not saying he's blameless, he's not. But he's the best of a really bad bunch.

[@royboy565]

Johnson was the architect of his own downfall.

[@JonathanSilverton-ol7kn]

Boris Johnson had it right from the start. We should have let it take its course and get immunity. However the country had been worked up into a state of mindless hysteria and he was not listened to:

[@davidbarrett1006]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

Thats essentially what we did anyway. Its what most countries did. And lockdowns were an important part of that. Because without lockdowns, and without a vaccine, the virus would have spread too fast for heath services to cope.

[@bikin_rusuhbener4587]

Was he in a covid quarantine ?

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

Yes.

[@Travis_22]

Bring back Boris! Best Prime Minister in decades.

[@narrativequestion]

like when he was parachuting with those union jacks and that

[@royboy565]

Sarcasm is alive and well.

[@mikewallace1723]

The guy can’t even dress himself 🙄🙄🙄 his ways were known before, so not a surprise sadly. Completely beyond his ability. 🤬🤬🤬

[@mauricetucker8754]

The cost cutting of the NHS destroyed the ability to manage with closure of A&E department reduced spaces on wards moveing away from beds to care in the community which has failed.

[@annewalden3795]

Maurice far too much political interference in the N H S and too much cost cutting .

[@robertjones7182]

Turning on Boris cost the Tories everything bunch of snakes

[@annewalden3795]

The Tories had no choice as Boris had lost all credibility through his own mistakes .

[@royboy565]

Johnson was the architect of his own downfall. Only himself to blame.

[@BellEnd-or2nh]

SCAM

[@CatholicSatan]

Gullis as apologist and deflector is an embarrassment. "Dithering" would have appalled such as Churchill of whom Johnson is supposed to have written a book (I say "supposed" because as Amazon reviews pointed out, "...the author is so full of himself that you may wonder who is the book actually about.")

[@witness4Him]

I remember the sheer arrogance and smirking from Boris when he was in power during Covid. I felt terrible about the attitude from people in power, who ruled over us just flouting the rules they were asking us to keep. We need someone in power who has had a normal upbringing, who knows what it is to struggle or witness it- not some out of touch person who had to watch sky tv through someone else's window!!! What would they know of hunger? Of doing without so your kids have a meal? Struggling with the cost of living. Working 40 hours yet still having to beg at a food bank!!! Will Labour make things better? I doubt it. Its like termites have been eating the furniture for years, weakening the structure and then Labour come in with the hope of restoring it!!!

[@user-ch8ku6qe3x]

why do you think they flouted the rules ..... there was no threat .

[@royboy565]

​@@user-ch8ku6qe3xIrrelevant. And tell that to those people who lost loved ones.

[@royboy565]

​@@user-ch8ku6qe3xTell that to those who couldn't go to funerals of loved ones who died of covid.

[@sevi7275]

Boris Johnson was also very very sick don’t forget

[@davidbarrett1006]

He always was.

[@simontemplarGB]

You know that because they told you?

[@user-ch8ku6qe3x]

yes he has some very sick friends like epstein for instance .

[@ffviifakeremake9997]

Well you could just let the AI demi god handle the next one 🤣🤣

[@kat2023.]

Ok, let's all listen to Gullis, who loved Johnson. Ms. Hallet, the expert judge, doesn't know what she's talking about. Pffft!!!

[@MATTE.U.K]

WHAT! are those headphones?

[@clearspira]

Now, now. Let's be fair on Boris. It wasn't just his fault. It was Cameron and May's fault too.

[@royboy565]

No, it was Johnson's fault. To say he was incompetent is being kind.

[@clearspira]

@@royboy565 No. Because that implies that the system was perfect until Boris inherited it.

[@royboy565]

​@@clearspiraHe ignored advice from the scientists to lock down earlier and covid took a stronger hold because of it. He then was all over the place. Worst P M to have in a crisis situation.

[@billryan7761]

Why Guliis..useless

[@brendanmccann5695]

A pity you had to shut J Straw down so often. Is this a conversation between adults? If so, let them speak. If not then you're looking for sound bytes and I'm in the wrong place.

[@jancaulfield3549]

Sorry but would you rather have had Corbyn? And as for ‘parties’ he was at chequers recovering from Covid in the most part. Not like Beer Starmer who did the same . And Angela Rayner who ‘wasn’t there’ until the photos came out. I think Boris did as well as possible with the pandemic, Brexit and the Ukraine war - who would you have wanted as PM

[@davidbarrett1006]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@howardtwissell683]

His biggest mistake was the COVID hospitals extremely large waste of money. But was any body prepared for what was to come . NHS , care homes private houses all are responsible for outbreaks like this. Boris took the brunt for having a party in a working bubble, but was starmer the same. I sympathise with all those who lost loved ones. Question is where did COVID come from , but we still trade with them, send them the bill or charge huge import duty

[@royboy565]

No fan of Corbyn but he would have done a better job than Johnson.

[@annewalden3795]

Jancaulfield someone who had a moral code , experience in administration and decision making and was actually capable of doing a serious job . Johnson was a journalist and a womaniser whose self indulgence was notorious .He did not have the C V required to deal with a real crisis and he should never have been a Politician.

[@annewalden3795]

​@@howardtwissell683We still do not know where Covid came from .

[@angelaM-wv9xe]

What about the rising cases now?

[@USR_Durma]

Brexit

[@ColinGreen-pi7kj]

Boris Johnson , one day to be Honoured for his " Services to the Country " , you couldn't make it up !

[@annewalden3795]

Colin I think it would be a real joke to honour Boris for being the worst P M we ever had .

[@jeffreywarner6792]

What people don't realise is that this was the first time something like this has happened, and people were not sure how to tackle the situation,

[@Mark13091961]

True - but they did have a test run some 8 years earlier, which they ignored. They treated it as if it was flue rather than a sars type breakout of which there was evidence of handling those from east asia. He dithered consistently to take the tough decisions in time to be effective, closing borders (at least with italy as we watched it hit there before it really hit the uk) lying about the ppp preparedness, every single time he dithered, making it worse as this enquiry reveals. Utter incompetence

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

@@Mark13091961 I seem to remember that the WHO warned against closing international borders. In fact, when Trump announced the closing of US borders, he was almost universally criticized by not just the WHO. And no country was prepared in regards to ppe stocks. Italy, for example, sent ppe aid to China. Only to have to buy it back again when it spread to Europe.

[@proselytizingorthodoxpente8304]

Also, it was never suggested that lockdowns would stop the virus. The only reason for lockdowns was to slow the spread to prevent health services being overwhelmed. And it worked.

[@nickclarke-hands5535]

Lock 'em all up !

[@mephistoxarses8585]

Boris Johnson...."Yeah and ???????"

[@jonhadley-zx2iu]

#followthemoney

[@dakm11]

We could see what was happening in Italy on our TV yet flights from there and other countries were arriving daily.

[@markbanner6473]

And Italy stopped flights quite early. Unfortunately it obviously didn't help. It's far more complicated than that.

[@adamkennedy7297]

Covid was a lie 😂😂😂

[@royboy565]

Yeah and the moon is made of cheese.

[@adamkennedy7297]

@@royboy565 the news told you that you was sick and you believed it 😄 get that tinfoil hat on a little tighter boy

[@matthewcook9404]

Is that Boris “The Liar” Johnson by any chance ?!?! 230,000 + deaths on his watch.

[@markbanner6473]

And yet by World standards per capita. UK ended up just above average. Something MSM tried hard not to mention too much at all.

[@matthewcook9404]

​@@markbanner6473 Your mum / dad / mate / colleague didn't die from COVID, did they ???

[@markbanner6473]

@@matthewcook9404 And yet people in government did lose people. Do you seriously think that a new virus could have been stopped. Viruses don't work like that. Sooner or later it will unfortunately catch up with practically everyone. Lockdowns or not. I and the vast majority of my family have had covid. Some more than once. Of course those who survive are fortunate. They are lucky whatever you want to call it. Those who sadly died obviously were not fortunate.

[@keithbird7176]

he did better than we would have done relying on the EU

[@annewalden3795]

Keith Bird we will never know but perhaps the number of deaths as a proportion of population might be revealing.

[@snowysnowyriver]

This guy seems to have conveniently forgotten that Johnson was in intensive care for a large part of the lock down.

[@neelamacwan7670]

Boris was million times better than the current unfit pm

[@royboy565]

You are funny.

[@chekky47]

He failed the UK by not getting Brexit done. 2019 with an 80 seat majority spent his time supping Prosecco in the garden at No 10.

[@Indecisive7337]

There had never been a Covid Epidemic like this before so it wasn’t possible to see how to do things any differently. Boris took advise and followed their lead, had he have done anything else then it surely would have been Criminal. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but anyone can say “Oh he should have done this or that” but in reality…he did his best!

[@alancrute]

Strange how the hindsight party knows best after the event,no matter who was in power the outcome would be the same.

[@annewalden3795]

Alan it did not help that Osborne was responsible for reducing the stock of protective clothing etc since the Tories came to power .You will remember that the lack of such clothing was a major issue and there were some strange deals approved by the Tories.

[@royboy565]

​@@annewalden3795He is obviously a tory apologist.

[@annewalden3795]

@@royboy565 I think you will find he was a Labour Minister.

[@royboy565]

​@@annewalden3795I'm on about Alan's comment.

[@redrev674]

Nonsense. He handled it very well.

[@royboy565]

Yeah of course he did and Johnson always tells the truth and Johnson also got a world beating brexit deal. Ever thought of going on Fantasy island?

[@warmachineuk]

Hoping not to shut down is one thing, not closing travel from India when Delta was exploding there was sacrificing public health to try for an India trade deal. Johnson put his career above public health.

[@narrativequestion]

you utter ignoramus. are you serious?