London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Boris Johnson didn’t want 2nd lockdown last year because it would ‘kill the economy’ to save the elderly, former top aide says

Boris Johnson didn’t want 2nd lockdown last year because it would ‘kill the economy’ to save the elderly, former top aide says

Dominic Cummings has claimed that the British PM denied the NHS would be overwhelmed by rising Covid-19 cases last year and was reluctant to impose a second lockdown, as he did not want to “kill the economy” to save the elderly.

The former top Downing Street adviser made the bombshell revelations in his first TV interview since leaving office. During the conversation with the BBC, Cummings said Boris Johnson “put his own political interests ahead of people’s lives, for sure.”

In the lead-up to the second lockdown in November, Cummings said Johnson’s attitude was a “weird mix” of “partly ‘it’s all nonsense and lockdowns don’t work anyway,’ and partly ‘well, this is terrible but the people who are dying are essentially all over 80, and we can’t kill the economy just because of people dying over 80.’”

According to WhatsApp messages leaked by Cummings to the public broadcaster, the PM had joked that people could “get Covid and live longer,” since most deaths were of those who were “above [average] life expectancy.”

In messages sent to aides in mid-October, Johnson reportedly described himself as being “slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities,” which he then reasoned “shows we don’t go for nationwide lockdown.”

Noting that the “median age” for Covid deaths was between 81 and 82 for men and 85 for women, and that “there are max [three million people]” aged over 80 in the UK, he allegedly wrote there was a “need to recalibrate” public health thinking around lockdowns.

“Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital ... and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff,” Johnson apparently wrote.

The revelations cast additional doubt over the PM’s actions last autumn – a period in which, Cummings claimed, Johnson had continued to ignore recommendations made by his scientific and medical advisers to bring in tougher restrictions.

“When you get to the week of around about 15 to 19 September, by that point the data was clear about what was happening,” Cummings said, adding that Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty had told Johnson to “consider hitting it hard and early.”

In response, Cummings claimed, the PM said, “No, no no, no, no, I’m not doing it.”


Alleging that Johnson was concerned about the potential reaction of his “real boss” in right-wing news media and the Conservative Party, Cummings said the PM told his advisers that he should not have agreed to the first lockdown earlier in the year.

“He then basically reverted and said, actually the whole thing was a disaster, we should never have done it, I was right in February, we should basically just ignore it and just let the thing wash through the country and not destroy the economy and move on,” Cummings said.

Cummings also claimed that Johnson had wanted to meet Queen Elizabeth in person in March 2020, when Downing Street staff were already falling ill and after the PM had told the public to avoid all unnecessary contact, particularly with the elderly.

“You obviously can’t go … I just said if you, if you give her coronavirus and she dies what, what are you gonna, you can’t do that, you can’t risk that, that’s completely insane. And he said, he basically just hadn’t thought it through, he said, yeah, ‘holy shit, I can’t go.’”

A Downing Street spokesperson denied that this incident took place, while Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.


When asked during the interview for proof to back up his version of events, Cummings stated that many of his allegations would be corroborated by a public inquiry. Since falling out with Johnson last year, he has repeatedly blamed the government for thousands of avoidable Covid-19 deaths.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister had taken “the necessary action to protect lives and livelihoods, guided by the best scientific advice” since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party echoed Cummings’ call for a public inquiry and said the revelations were “further evidence that the prime minister has made the wrong calls time and again at the expense of public health.”

The full interview will be broadcast on Tuesday.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
×