British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticized for making statements he allegedly made behind closed doors. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, he said he would rather see “thousands of corpses pile up” than impose another lockdown.
The government calls the accusation nonsense, but the opposition demands that the matter be clarified.
The newspaper opened the attack on the prime minister on the front page with the headline “Boris: let thousands of corpses pile up”. The Daily Mail did not write exactly where the information came from. Still, in other media, the link was quickly linked to a falling out between the prime minister and his former top adviser Dominic Cummings.
Cummings was known as Johnson’s right-hand man and as the mastermind behind the successful campaign to get the UK out of the EU. The influential advisor suddenly resigned at the end of last year, reportedly after an internal power struggle within the government. He is now emerging as an outspoken critic of the prime minister.
Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace stood up for Johnson. According to him, nothing about the Daily Mail’s report is correct. None of this is to be taken seriously, and the minister told Sky News. He said Johnson is working hard to tackle the pandemic and described the ongoing allegations as a farce.
However, the opposition is demanding that Johnson come to clarify the matter himself in parliament. “These statements are disgusting. If this is true, Boris Johnson must resign,” said Scottish SNP party leader Ian Blackford. He said the scandal within Johnson’s Conservative Party is growing.
Ex-top advisor Cummings ignited Friday on his blog in a rant about his former boss. He claimed that Johnson wanted to finance the renovation of his apartment with donated money secretly. Cummings has told the prime minister that such a thing is “unethical, stupid and possibly illegal”. Downing Street contradicted the report.
The integrity riot is getting a lot of attention in British media and comes at a particularly unfavourable time for Johnson’s conservatives. Britons will go to the polls for regional elections in a week and a half.