(The Guardian) Dominic Cummings has laid bare the “surreal” chaos in Downing Street in March last year as the government grappled with the Covid pandemic, describing the situation as “like a kind of out-of-control movie”.
During an extraordinary evidence session to MPs at Westminster on Wednesday, Boris Johnson’s former chief aide personally targeted the prime minister for criticism, portraying him as obsessed with the media, and making constant U-turns “like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”.
Cummings said Johnson regretted the first lockdown and held out against imposing later restrictions, despite the advice of many people inside Downing Street, and that overall, “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die”.
In particularly incendiary claims about Matt Hancock, Cummings said the health secretary had lied to the public and fellow ministers, arguing that amounted to “criminal” behaviour.
