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LONDON — Boris Johnson’s senior aides were “exhausted” from dealing with him during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Britain’s public inquiry into the outbreak heard Tuesday.
Testimony revealed in Britain’s COVID-19 probe shows that both Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings — who served as Johnson’s director of communications and chief adviser respectively — expressed deep frustration with the then-prime minister’s handling of coronavirus as it gripped the U.K. in March 2020.
In WhatsApp messages sent on March 19, 2020 — which were shown to the inquiry Tuesday — Cummings told Cain that he had been forced to “sit here for 2 hours just to stop [Johnson] saying stupid shit.”
“I’ve literally said same thing ten f*cking times and he still won’t absorb it. I’m exhausted just talking to him and stopping the trolley,” Cummings texted.
“I’m exhausted with him,” Cain replied.
In March 2020, Johnson’s government had wavered over whether to move the U.K. into a full lockdown. He eventually did so on March 23.
Earlier in the text messages, Cummings indicated that then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak — now Britain’s prime minister — expressed concern that a lockdown may spook the markets.
“Rishi saying bond markets may not fund our debt etc,” Cummings texted.
Referring to Johnson, Cummings then said the former prime minister was “back to Jaws mode wank” — an apparent call-back to Johnson’s love of the mayor from Spielberg classic “Jaws,” who fights to keep the beaches open despite the threat from the shark.
Giving evidence Tuesday, Cain admitted anyone working with Johnson “will become exhausted with him sometimes.”
“It was the wrong crisis for this prime minister’s skill set,” Cain added.
