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Covid inquiry: Vallance diary tells of ‘shambolic day’ — as it happened
Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson thought it ‘OK to let people die’
Sir Patrick Vallance said Boris Johnson often changed his mind between “imposing full lockdowns and no restrictions at all”
STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA/REUTERS
Rishi Sunak argued against a second lockdown and, like Boris Johnson, thought it was OK if people died, according to a diary entry by Sir Patrick Vallance.
In the entry for October 25, 2020 the then chief scientific officer noted that Dominic Cummings had relayed the view of the then chancellor to people at a meeting. It read: “DC says ‘Rishi thinks just let people die and that’s OK.’ ”
Sir Patrick Vallance: Boris Johnson ‘struggled’ with some of the scientific concepts
The Covid inquiry heard that Johnson also wanted to avoid a second lockdown and argued that it did not matter that more elderly people were going to die because “they’ve had a good innings”.
The then prime minister made the remarks at a meeting which was recorded by Vallance in his diary entry for the
