{"id":26277,"date":"2023-11-07T22:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mormonmediareviews.com\/?p=26277"},"modified":"2023-11-07T22:19:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:19:00","slug":"boris-whisky-and-a-revolver-quip-to-covid-health-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mormonmediareviews.com\/politics\/boris-whisky-and-a-revolver-quip-to-covid-health-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Boris\u2019 \u2018whisky and a revolver\u2019 quip to Covid health chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Covid-19 Inquiry was shown extracts from the notebooks of former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance. In an early October 2020 entry, he wrote of a \u201cvery bad meeting\u201d with the then Prime Minister who spoke of \u201cmedieval measures\u201d to suppress the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Sir Patrick\u2019s notes suggested Mr Johnson had questioned the approach to tackling the virus, saying: \u201cSurely this just sweeps through in waves like other natural phenomena and there is nothing we can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs [Covid taskforce head] Simon Ridley said \u2018final slide\u2019, PM said \u2018Whisky and a revolver\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was all over the place.\u201d Sir Patrick also described how the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak was \u201cusing increasingly specific and spurious arguments against closing hospitality. Both of them clutching at straws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Patrick wrote of three options: \u201c1) Do a proper lockdown 2) Use military to enforce the rules 3) Do nothing…and count the bodies (poor, old and BAME). When will they decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE <\/strong> Professor shares risk of catching Covid straight after having it<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In an October 25 extract, Sir Patrick suggested Mr Johnson was often \u201cbuffeted\u201d in his decision-making by Mr Sunak.<\/p>\n

Handwritten comments by Mr Johnson were shown.<\/p>\n

One read: \u201cWhat do we really achieve by smashing up the economy if we have no idea how many times we are going to have to do it?\u201d He added: \u201cWhat happened to mass testing? What about the moon shots?\u201d and \u201cHow can we get people to self-isolate? Is NHS Test and Trace actually achieving anything?\u201d The disclosures came as Mr Ridley appeared before the inquiry.<\/p>\n

He was asked about Mr Sunak\u2019s Eat Out to Help Out scheme which encouraged diners to return to restaurants in the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n

Mr Ridley agreed with a suggestion by inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC that his team had been \u201cblindsided\u201d by the announcement of the measure, saying: \u201cThings happen that surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquiry has already heard criticism of the policy from others including England\u2019s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty who privately referred to it as \u201ceat out to help out the virus\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former No 10 chief of staff Lord Edward Udny-Lister recalled comments where Mr Johnson had suggested to civil servants and advisers that he \u201cwanted to be injected with Covid-19 on television to demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt was before the Italian situation had really become apparent…when Covid was not seen as being the serious disease it subsequently became. It was an unfortunate comment.\u201d Pressed by counsel Andrew O\u2019Connor KC that Covid was known to be deadly weeks before, Lord Udny-Lister said: \u201cWe were still living in the forlorn hope that it wasn\u2019t going to come \u2013 it was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a comment that shouldn\u2019t have been made.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquiry continues.<\/p>\n