Shock, horror! Something surprising happened today at the Covid Inquiry. Thus far, much of what we have heard has been predictable or even mundane. Simon Case made a fool of himself? Stop the presses. The civil service thought No. 10 was a shambles? Halt the front page. Nobody liked Matt Hancock? Quick, get the editor. But the appearance today of Lord Udny-Lister – the artist formerly known as Eddie Lister – brought with it some intriguing revelations.
Unlike Cummings or Helen MacNamara, Lister does not have an obvious axe to grind. Since quitting as Boris Johnson’s chief strategic adviser, the onetime City Hall aide has largely kept his own counsel and refrained from criticism in the press. But today in his witness statement, he admitted that Johnson said he would rather ‘let the bodies pile high’ than impose another coronavirus lockdown, two years after the former UK prime minister dismissed the allegation as ‘total rubbish’.
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