Boris Johnson feared he ‘blinked too soon’ over second national lockdown, leaked WhatsApp messages reveal
BORIS Johnson feared he had “blinked too soon” over a second national lockdown, leaked WhatsApp messages reveal.
The then PM outlined his concerns 24 hours after announcing the measures as scientists warned him data used was “very wrong”.
BoJo had been shown stats predicting 4,000 people could die every day if he didn’t take any action – but a newer study indicated 1,000 fatalities per day.
In November 2020 he wrote: “The attack is going to be that we blinked too soon.”
Meanwhile, Matt Hancock has hit out at journalist Isabel Oakeshott for the “massive betrayal and breach of trust” over leaking WhatsApp messages revealing his handling of the pandemic.
The ex-Health Secretary gave the messages to her as they worked together on his Pandemic Diaries memoirs released last year.
He said there was “absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach”.
He also denied sending her menacing messages after the leak.
He said: “I messaged to say it was ‘a big mistake’. Nothing more.”
Ms Oakeshott said she made “no apology whatsoever”.
She added: “The greatest betrayal is of the entire country. Hard though it may be for him to believe, this isn’t about Matt Hancock, or indeed any other individual politician.”
