Dominic Cummings tells BBC that PM denied Covid would overwhelm NHS | Dominic Cummings

Boris Johnson denied the NHS would be confused and said he was not organized to lock down the place to preserve folks in their 80s, texting his adviser “get Covid and reside for a longer period,” according to new WhatsApp messages introduced by Dominic Cummings.

In his 1st Television job interview, the primary minister’s previous main adviser claimed Johnson held out on reimposing Covid constraints since “the people today who are dying are fundamentally all over 80.”

Cummings also explained to the BBC that Johnson experienced been identified to go to see the Queen in human being, despite individuals in Variety 10 previously slipping unwell with Covid in March 2020. Downing Road denies the account.

In WhatsApp messages, shared with the BBC, that ended up sent to aides in mid October, Johnson appears to say: “I will have to say I have been somewhat rocked by some of the facts on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for adult men 85 for women. That is previously mentioned daily life expectancy. So get Covid and are living extended. Barely everyone less than 60 goes into medical center (4 per cent) and of those virtually all endure.

“And I no for a longer period get all this NHS overcome stuff. People I consider we may possibly require to recalibrate.”

Johnson also appears to text aides “There are max 3 m in this nation aged in excess of 80” and says “it demonstrates we really don’t go for nationwide lockdown.”

The new messages will forged even further question more than the steps of the primary minister in the run-up to the November lockdown, a time for the duration of which Cummings and other senior experts have claimed the prime minister was fiercely opposed to lockdowns.

Cummings told the BBC that Johnson, who arrived near to death right after he was hospitalised with Covid in April 2020, advised meetings in Selection 10 that he should really by no means have agreed to the 1st lockdown.

He said Johnson referred to the Telegraph as “my actual boss” and was incredibly involved about the reaction of the proper-wing push and the Conservative bash.

“He then basically reverted and mentioned, essentially the entire matter was a catastrophe, we should never ever have carried out it, I was ideal in February, we really should in essence just dismiss it and just permit the thing wash as a result of the region and not wipe out the economy and move on,” he said.

Cummings reported Johnson experienced frequently ignored the information of his chief scientific and health care advisers.

“When you get to the week of close to about 15 to 19 September, by that stage the data was distinct about what was occurring and Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty arrived to Downing Street and stated erm, it’s crystal clear where this is going, we feel that you ought to take into consideration hitting it tricky and early … the key minister reported no, no, no, no, no, I’m not carrying out it.”

In the BBC interview, Cummings claims that he had to cease Boris Johnson likely to see the Queen in man or woman at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when team in Variety 10 have been now falling ill and the key minister had now instructed the public to stay away from all unnecessary contact, primarily with elderly persons.

“I said, what are you executing, and he mentioned, I’m going to see the Queen and I explained, what on earth are you speaking about, of class you cannot go and see the Queen. He mentioned, ah, that is what I do just about every Wednesday, sod this, I’m gonna go and see her,” Cummings explained.

Downing Avenue denied that this incident took put. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Cummings mentioned he at some point certain Johnson not to get the hazard. “I claimed to him, there’s folks in this business who are isolating, you could possibly have coronavirus, I could possibly have coronavirus, you can’t go and see the Queen. What if you go and see her and give the Queen coronavirus?

“You clearly can’t go … I just explained if you, if you give her coronavirus and she dies what, what are you gonna, you just cannot do that, you cannot hazard that, that is entirely crazy. And he claimed, he fundamentally just hadn’t considered it as a result of, he explained, yeah, ‘holy shit, I just can’t go.’”

A Amount 10 spokesperson advised the BBC: “Since the start out of the pandemic, the primary minister has taken the needed motion to defend life and livelihoods, guided by the greatest scientific information.

“The authorities he potential customers has delivered the quickest vaccination rollout in Europe, saved thousands and thousands of positions via the furlough scheme and prevented the NHS from getting confused by way of 3 national lockdowns. The govt is completely focused on rising cautiously from the pandemic and making back again far better.”

Cummings has released multiple attacks on his previous boss following leaving Downing Road in December, like at a seven-hour committee conference with MPs and via a new subscription blog.

The previous main adviser was matter to vociferous public criticism following the Guardian discovered he had travelled to Durham with his spouse and children, and later to Barnard Castle, during the national lockdown.

Cummings repeated his explanation that he had left London because of threats from his household – which he explained to MPs in May possibly but declined to say at a press meeting he gave about the incident. “Everything that I mentioned in the Rose Back garden was true … but I didn’t go into all of the security concerns in the history,” he explained.

“The way we dealt with the total point was, was completely wrong on the Monday. What I should have done is either just resigned and said nothing about nearly anything, or I need to have spoken to my family members and stated, hear we’re just gonna have to come clear about the total detail.”