Boris Johnson suggested Covid was ‘nature dealing with old people’

Diary entries from Sir Patrick Valance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, were heard at the Covid inquiry on Tuesday (October 31).

He said the former Primer Minister was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life” and getting the economy running.

Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury has now urged people to bare this in mind come the next election.

He said: “Boris Johnson agreed with some Conservative MPs who thought Covid was ‘nature's way of dealing with old people’.

“That was according to notes made by the government's former chief scientist Sir Patrick Vallance shared with the Covid inquiry.

“The first duty of government should be to protect its people, irrespective of age.

“If you're an older person thinking about voting Tory at the next election, I'd politely ask that you reconsider.”

Mr Amesbury has urged older people to reconsider how they vote (Image: Mike Amesbury)

Sir Patrick wrote about his frustrations in dealing with Mr Johnson in his diaries.

The adviser wrote in August 2020 that Mr Johnson was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going”.

“Quite bonkers set of exchanges,” he said, referring to the “PM WhatsApp group”.

Then, in December 2020, Sir Patrick wrote that Mr Johnson said he believed he had been “acting early” and that the “public are with him (but his party is not)”.

“He says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just Nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much’.”

Sir Patrick Vallance's diary entries were read out during the Covid Inquiry (Image: PA)

Also during Tuesday’s inquiry hearing in west London, Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings took aim at much of the Government

He apologised for calling ministers “useless f***pigs, morons, c****” but said his language only “understated” their incompetence.

Mr Cummings also said vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities and domestic abuse victims were “entirely appallingly neglected” during lockdown considerations.

He added that “one of the most appalling things” was the lack of a shielding plan in March 2020 “and the Cabinet Office was trying to block us creating a shielding plan”.