Covid: Boris Johnson's lockdown capitulation after meeting with scientists laid bare
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference in Downing Street
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Boris Johnson capitulated to support more lockdowns after favouring a Swedish-style coronavirus approach, an Oxford University epidemiologist has claimed.
The former Prime Minister appeared keen to avoid more Covid-curbing restrictions in Autumn 2020, just a few months after introducing similar measures across England.
He asked Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Carl Heneghan for advice, alongside Sweden’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
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Professor Gupta suggested the former Prime Minister was persuaded by a Swedish expert to implement less restrictive rules.
The Scandinavian country adopted measures which were comparatively liberal, including social distancing rules and bans on mass gatherings.
Gupta, a theoretical epidemiologist at Oxford’s Department of Biology, also claimed that every expert other than Professor John Edmunds agreed about the merits of the Swedish approach.
Her comments are the first time a scientist in the meeting has publicly spoken about Johnson’s support for the Swedish model.
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A woman wearing a face mask passing a screen advising the wearing of face masks on Oxford Street
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Gupta voiced her support for a “focused protection” approach which would have ensured the most vulnerable were shielded.
In her witness statement to the Covid inquiry, Gupta said: “Anders Tegnell gave a general outline of the ‘Swedish’ strategy, which corresponded to the opinions he had already expressed on multiple occasions in the press; Angela McLean expressed the opinion that we should be doing whatever Tegnell was doing.
“As the ‘Swedish’ strategy is effectively synonymous with focused protection of the vulnerable, it could be said that other than John Edmunds, all invitees were broadly in favour of proposals outlined by Tegnell.
“Boris Johnson interrogated each of us on our position, but there was no opportunity for a panel discussion.”
Gupta shared her witnesses statement with The Telegraph after becoming increasingly frustrated about how the Covid inquiry was treating lockdown-sceptic scientists.
Downing Street former special advisor Dominic Cummings (left) and Director of Communications Lee Cain (right)
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Johnson’s former close aides Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings are set to give evidence to the Covid inquiry.
The Brexit-backing duo, who helped mastermind both the 2016 Vote Leave campaign and 2019 general election victory, resigned from Number 10 in November 2020 amid an internal spat with allies of the former Prime Minister’s wife Carrie Symonds.
Cain and Cummings could provide give some explosive accounts to the investigation after Johnson reportedly said he would rather let coronavirus “rip” than introduce a second lockdown because of the economic impact.
Cummings, who was involved in his own Covid debacle following his trip to Barnard Castle, is constantly sniping at Johnson and many other top Tories on social media.