Boris Johnson launched a push for Brits to get back to workplaces – with sources warning workers who didn’t show their faces were more likely to lose their jobs. The rhetoric was abandoned within weeks as soaring cases led to another lockdown.
The PM and Rishi Sunak tried to dodge self-isolation by claiming to be part of a pilot scheme after they were ‘pinged’ by Sajid Javid – during a so-called ‘pingdemic’. In a farcical Sunday morning, they then U-turned less than three hours later amid public outcry.
Boris Johnson allegedly claimed Covid patients “live longer”, according to text messages shown by the BBC. In texts to aides, Mr Johnson said: “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get COVID and live longer.”
Serco’s privatised Covid contact-tracing system didn’t cost £37bn (that figure included millions of tests too) but it was still mired in controversy at great cost. For months the “world-beating” programme pledged by Boris Johnson didn’t materialise with contact-tracers failing to reach thousands of infected people and an app’s launch being repeatedly delayed.
Boris Johnson has dropped the practice of publishing attendees at the ‘Leader’s Group’ dining club, for people who give the Conservative Party over £50k. Past records of attendees – where donors rub shoulders with the PM without notes being taken – were scrubbed from the Tory website. And an ‘Advisory Board’ of £250k donors has since been set up. Promises of transparency were made after a 2012 row involving ex-Tory Treasurer Peter Cruddas… who Boris Johnson has now made a Lord. Three days after beginning his peerage, Lord Cruddas donated £500k to the party.
During Euro 2020 warm-up games, No10 refused to condemn fans who booed players for taking the knee against racism. The PM’s spokesman said was “more focused on action rather than gestures”. Only after several days of debate did the spokesman urge fans to “cheer not boo”, after which Mr Johnson said: “I disapprove of people booing the England team”.
Boris Johnson tried to stand by Matt Hancock after the Health Secretary breached Covid rules by kissing an aide. No10 repeatedly said it “considered the matter closed”. But then when Mr Hancock quit, the PM U-turned and tried to claim credit.
Dominic Cummings became a household name when the Mirror revealed he drove cross-country to Durham while sick with Covid during the first lockdown, then made an infamous trip to Barnard Castle to “test his eyesight”. Mr Cummings refused to resign despite widespread public anger – and Boris Johnson stood by him.
In leaked texts, Boris Johnson promised vacuum tycoon Sir James Dyson he would “fix” an issue to ensure his staff were not hit with a tax bill if they came to work on emergency ventilators in the UK. It raised further questions about what influence powerful business people can have with politicians of the day. Both sides denied wrongdoing.
Boris Johnson was urged to hand back millions in Russia-linked Tory Party donations. Banker Lubov Chernukhin, married to Putin’s former deputy finance minister, has donated £1.7m. Alexander Temerko, a businessman born in Soviet Ukraine who insists he is ‘no friend’ of Putin, has donated £1.3m. The Tories defend the donations, saying they are legal and Russian critics of Putin should not be lumped in with pro-Kremlin oligarchs. Boris Johnson also gave media mogul Evgeny Lebedev a peerage in 2020, despite spooks reportedly raising initial concerns over his father’s KGB past. He has also criticised the war in Ukraine.