JOHNSON ‘OVERRULED PATEL ON CLOSING BRITAIN’S DOORS’
BORIS JOHNSON was yesterday accused of ‘overruling’ Priti Patel, after it emerged she pressed for borders to be closed to stop the spread of Covid last March.
The home secretary on Tuesday told a Conservative Friends of India meeting: ‘On “should we have closed our borders earlier”, the answer is yes, I was an advocate of closing them last March.’
Mr Johnson opted to criticise Labour’s own policies when he was quizzed on her claim at prime minister’s questions.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked: ‘Why did the prime minister overrule the home secretary?’
And Mr Johnson replied: ‘I think it was last March (Sir Keir) along with many others was actually saying that we didn’t need to close borders but, as usual, Captain Hindsight has changed his tune to suit events.’ He added the UK had ‘instituted one of the toughest border regimes in the world’ – as, since Monday this week, travellers must have a negative test result before arrival, then self-isolate.
But Sir Keir countered: ‘He talks of hindsight – what the home secretary said last night is not disputed, it’s that she was saying last March to the prime minister, “You need to shut the borders.”’
Meanwhile, Ms Patel appeared to shift blame for the UK leading the world with its Covid death rate on to government scientists.
Challenged on why the country’s death rate was so high, she said ‘there was no one reason’ – adding the government ‘has listened to a range of advice, and followed advice, from professionals and advisers, medical, scientific, from day one in this pandemic’.