2023-11-20 15:35:26
Boris Johnson often seemed “disconcerted” when faced with the scientists responsible for explaining to him the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was “horrible” to see him try to understand the statistics, the former scientific adviser to the government.
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Heard as part of the public inquiry into the management of Covid-19, Patrick Vallance had to comment on extracts from his logbook written during the pandemic, in which he scratches the scientific skills of the former Prime Minister.
In one of his notes, dated May 4, 2020, he wrote: “the Prime Minister is clearly confused.” Ten days later, he says he “continues to get confused regarding the different types of tests (he understands them in a meeting, and then forgets).”
Again on June 11, 2020, Patrick Vallance wrote that “watching the Prime Minister try to understand the statistics is horrible”, adding that on several occasions he put his head in his hands to show his annoyance.
Before the commission, he drives the point home, recalling that Boris Johnson “abandoned science when he was 15 and I think he would be the first to admit that it is not his strong point”.
However, he says that his counterparts in other countries may have experienced the same difficulties with their own leaders.
Since the start of this public inquiry, other testimonies from former advisers to Boris Johnson have overwhelmed the ex-Prime Minister, describing him as overwhelmed by events, showing little concern for the victims, in a country very hard hit by the pandemic with more than 230,000 deaths.
Boris Johnson finally had to resign in the summer of 2022, swept away by the “Partygate” scandal, these parties organized in Downing Street during the pandemic in full confinement.
After examining how the country was prepared for the health crisis, the commission of inquiry, expected to last at least three years and chaired by Judge Heather Hallett, is currently looking into the governance and political management of the appearance of the virus.
During his hearing, Patrick Vallance, who was privately reprimanded for having defended early confinement of London at the very beginning of the pandemic, explained the sometimes difficult relations between scientists and the executive.
This is evidenced by another note dating from July 2020, in which the former government scientific advisor claims that during a meeting in July 2020 the Minister of Finance at the time, Rishi Sunak – now Prime Minister – had blurted out: “it’s all regarding managing the scientists, not the virus.”
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