Politics latest news: Minister forced to deny Boris Johnson said he would accept ‘bodies piled high’ to avoid lockdown

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Reports that Boris Johnson said he would rather see ‘bodies piled high in their thousands’ than order a third lockdown are “categorically” not true, a Cabinet minister has said.

The Prime Minister fought against imposing a second set of restrictions last autumn, telling a crucial No 10 meeting it must be the last, according to the Daily Mail. Labour said the report was “shocking and sickening”.

But Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary, said it was “not true – it’s been categorically denied by everyone”.

He told Sky News: “We have entered the comedy chapter of these stories, with unnamed sources, unnamed advisers, unnamed events. None of this is serious.”

It adds to the pile of questions likely to be put to the UK’s most senior official this afternoon, after Mr Johnson sparked a war of words with Dominic Cummings on Friday. The former adviser hit back with a series of his own allegations over the funding for a refurbishment of the Downing Street flat.

Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, will be giving evidence to the Commons’ Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee from 2:15pm.

​​Follow the latest updates below.

08:12 AM

Boris Johnson must respond to ‘sickening’ allegation as soon as possible, says Labour

It appears to be another salvo in the war of words between Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings - AFP
It appears to be another salvo in the war of words between Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings – AFP

Labour has called for Boris Johnson to respond personally “as soon as possible” to the claim that he said he would rather see ‘bodies pile high’ than enter another lockdown.

The allegation, reported in the Daily Mail this morning, has been rejected by Downing Street while ministers including Nadine Dorries and Ben Wallace have said it is a “lie”.

However a spokesperson for the opposition said:“If this report is true, then these are truly shocking and sickening comments from Boris Johnson.

“It is hard to imagine how families who have lost loved ones to Covid will feel reading them. Boris Johnson must make a public statement as soon as possible in his response to this report.”

08:00 AM

Tim Stanley: Cummings, the man who played by his own rules, can’t throw stones at Boris

All we have learnt from the silly sleaze stories of the past few days is that David Cameron is a rubbish lobbyist and Carrie Symonds hates John Lewis furniture. The big reveal is yet to come, writes Tim Stanley.

Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former – and now very angry – chief adviser, is expected to use his Commons committee grilling next month to blame the PM personally for failures during the second wave of Covid-19 that potentially cost thousands of lives.No 10, which seems to have started this row by briefing that Dom is a leaker, is described as being “terrified” of whatever he might have on them. I am told that is a polite paraphrase for an almost total loss of control of both bowel and bladder.Dom is keen on history. He would like it to read “Dominic Cummings won the Brexit referendum and gave the Tories a majority, but the Johnson government was so stupid and so corrupt that it kicked out the best man it ever had”.It is an attractive narrative, for obvious reasons, but falls down on the point that Cummings was a mess in No 10, and that the integrity of the anti-Covid effort was dented by his own actions, namely driving his family to Durham, then Barnard Castle, in the middle of lockdown.

Read the rest of Tim’s column here.

07:45 AM

War with Dominic Cummings is ‘distracting’ from priorities, Labour says

The “very troubling allegations” that have been surfacing since Boris Johnson went to war with Dominic Cummings are “distracting” from the Government’s real priorities, Labour has said.

Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I’m glad they (the Electoral Commission) are looking into it because clearly these are very troubling allegations and they go to the heart of ethics and integrity in our Government, and transparency.

“It seems to me that as long as there is uncertainty, there is doubt and innuendo and rumour about who is getting contracts, who is paying for the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat, who is in and who is out.

“This is distracting the Government. They are not getting on with the right priorities for the country because they are busy fighting among themselves and seeking to throw up smokescreen.”

Ministers had been “fighting like rats in a sack” with Mr Cummings and his allies, she noted.

07:43 AM

Jeremy Corbyn leads calls for Boris Johnson to publish messages with pharma lobbyists

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is among several MPs calling for the Prime Minister, ministers, and senior civil servants to publish all email, text, and WhatsApp messages exchanged with pharmaceutical companies and their lobbyists.

Mr Corbyn, who made the supposed ‘sale’ of the NHS the centrepoint of his failed election campaign in 2019, is joined by former colleagues Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon and Clive Lewis as well as the new Labour MP Zarah Sultana in making the call.

Green MP Caroline Lucas, the SNP’s Kenny MacAskill and Baroness Sheehan, the Liberal Democrat International Development spokesperson in the House of Lords, have also signed the statement, as they look to put pressure on the Government to waive IP on the Covid vaccines.

The statement notes that factories capable of producing vaccines are “sitting idle” as intellectual property rules have restricted production of Covid-19 vaccines to the supply chains of patent-holding pharmaceutical companies, restricting production.

Heidi Chow, Senior Policy and Campaigns Manager at Global Justice Now, said:

“The UK’s opposition to an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 vaccines is utterly indefensible. With a real scandal emerging over big business’s preferential access to this government, we must ask: is the UK’s reckless opposition to a patent waiver because of undeclared big pharma lobbying? We have a right to know if the Prime Minister has thrown low and middle income countries under the bus to protect private profits.”

Diarmaid McDonald, Lead Organiser at Just Treatment, said:

“Boris Johnson hailed corporate ‘greed’ as the cause of the UK’s vaccine success but that greed is in fact worsening the pandemic, putting millions more lives at risk – including NHS patients. We need to fully understand what is motivating the government to consistently side with big pharma to oppose measures that could break unfair monopolies, scale up vaccine production and save lives. Sadly, it seems we may only get an answer to that question if we can read the PM’s text exchanges with the industry. Democracy and the pandemic response make their publication essential.”

07:35 AM

Claim that Boris Johnson said let ‘bodies pile high’ instead of lockdown is ‘outright lie’, says Nadine Dorries

Nadine Dorries has hit out at the claims -  Andrew Crowley
Nadine Dorries has hit out at the claims – Andrew Crowley

Health minister Nadine Dorries dismissed claims that Boris Johnson had said he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than face a third lockdown.

She tweeted: “This is an outright lie. Not one named source or substantiated fact.

“Days before Hartlepool by election and a wide set of local/PCC/Mayoral elections.

“It’s mendacious, vexatious co ordinated gossip given in order to negatively influence the outcome,” she claimed.

07:32 AM

Claims that Boris Johnson said bodies should ‘pile high’ are ‘deeply unfair’, says minister

Ben Wallace said the story was based on 'he said, she said' - Reuters
Ben Wallace said the story was based on ‘he said, she said’ – Reuters

Claims that Boris Johnson said he would rather have “bodies piled high” than enter another lockdown is “just untrue” and “deeply unfair”, a Cabinet minister has said.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, told the Today programme: “If you read the front of the newspaper, there is no source.

It’s all just ‘who said, he said, she said’, and there is almost no evidence.

“To keep repeating it is deeply unfair.”

07:22 AM

Boris Johnson ‘paid personally’ for flat refurb, minister insists

A Cabinet minister has insisted that Boris Johnson “paid personally” for the refurbishment of the flat above Downing Street, saying the Prime Minister has “at all stages complied with rules”.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said the Government had “engaged with the Electoral Commission” on the matter, and was “subject to all sorts of transparency rules, and will soon will publish transparency reports.”

“The action he did was he paid for the money, for the flat, out of his own pocket… he paid out of his own money for the flat.”

“Do I think the Prime Minister is sleazy? No, I don’t.”

Mr Johnson had been an “absolutely first class Prime Minister, who has led the country in a pandemic”, he added.

07:19 AM

Cummings’ war of words could be ‘extremely destablising’, says former adviser

Lord (Gavin) Barwell: The Cummings war could be 'extremely destabilising' - Rex
Lord (Gavin) Barwell: The Cummings war could be ‘extremely destabilising’ – Rex

Lord Barwell, who served as Downing Street chief of staff under Theresa May, said the briefing war between No 10 and Dominic Cummings “has the potential to be extremely destabilising”.

The former Conservative minister told Times Radio: “I think there will be huge frustration among Conservative MPs, councillors and candidates with the elections approaching in early May that this appears to be an entirely self-inflicted wound, that this story that we’re all talking about was prompted by either someone in No 10 – or the Prime Minister himself allegedly – accusing Dominic Cummings of being behind all the recent leaks.

“There are some significant unanswered questions still and we’ve seen further revelations over the weekend and in this morning’s papers – clearly, potentially there is more information that might get released.”

Lord Barwell said the inquiry into the so-called “chatty rat” leak regarding last year’s November lockdown had taken “a long time”, noting that a “very serious leak” during Ms May’s tenure was resolved in “a matter of days”.

07:16 AM

Johnny Mercer’s support of veterans in Belfast trial ‘not embarrassing’, says minister

The Defence Secretary has said it is “not embarrassing” that Johnny Mercer is in Belfast today, after the former junior minister was recently sacked over the treatment of Northern Ireland veterans.

Two former paratroopers will appear before a court in Belfast later, charged with the murder of a man almost 50 years ago.

Official IRA man Joe McCann, 24, died after being shot in the Markets area of Belfast in 1972. The veterans are referred to in court proceedings as soldiers A and C.

Mr Mercer, who claims to have been sacked by text after he went public with his grievances over the Government’s failure to protect ex-soldiers, is attending to support the veterans.

Ben Wallace said he was a “valued colleague”, although stressed: “I don’t agree with any of his observations about government.

“I don’t think it’s embarrassing. He is doing the right thing in his eyes, he is doing what all MPs do… he is a very doughty advocate of their cause.”

07:11 AM

UK to help “friends” in India from “unbearable pressure” caused by Covid wave

The Government has acted swiftly to help “our friends” in India, a Cabinet minister has insisted, as the UK prepares to send ventilators and oxygen compressors to the Covid-hit country.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, told Sky News that the UK was acting because “the pressure is getting unbearable and we are going to do our part to help our friends. It’s only right we share and help them in their time of need.”

Challenged over the delay, he stressed ministers had been in touch with the Indian government throughout, adding: “It isn’t like we just woke up this morning and thought we would do it.”

The equipment will be sent on military planes, or charter flights “if necessary”, he added.

07:10 AM

Cabinet minister rubbishes ‘comedy chapter’ of hostile leaks

A Cabinet minister has said the series of hostile leaks aimed at Boris Johnson has entered the “comedy chapter now”.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, compared the row that has erupted in recent days between the Prime Minister and his former adviser to “the Oscar gossip columns”.

He told Sky News: “We are getting into the sort of comedy chapter now of these gossip stories – unnamed sources, by unnamed advisers talking about unnamed events.

“None of this is serious. The Prime Minister has been utterly focused on delivering, alongside Cabinet colleagues, the response to Covid.”

He added: “All the ‘who said, what said’, I’ll leave that to the Oscar gossip columns that are now being rolled out today after last night.

“I’ll leave that to the Hello magazines of the world but Government is focused on delivering for the citizens on its Covid response.”

06:55 AM

Dominic Cummings warned he is not in clear over ‘chatty rat’ leak

Dominic Cummings has not been cleared in the “chatty rat” leak inquiry, Britain’s top civil servant is expected to make clear on Monday as Number 10 fights back against his claims.

Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, will be grilled by MPs about a string of allegations made by Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, in a blog post.

A Cabinet Office source said that, if asked, Mr Case will undercut two core claims made by Mr Cummings in his 1,000-word blog on Friday night.

Mr Case’s office argues that the inquiry into who leaked plans for a second national lockdown in October is ongoing and nobody has been exonerated.

That counters Mr Cummings’ claim that he was cleared by Mr Case of being the source – described as the “chatty rat” – who told reporters about the imminent lockdown.

“His position will be that the inquiry is still open. With the inquiry still open, it would be wrong to say that anyone is absolutely in the clear,” a Cabinet Office source said.

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