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UK denies report that PM Johnson said 'let the bodies pile high'
The Daily Mail newspaper said Johnson said at an October meeting at Downing Street: "No more ****ing lockdowns – let the bodies pile high in their thousands."
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Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Tollgate Medical Centre in Beckton, London, Britain July 24, 2020. (Pool/Reuters/Jeremy Selwyn)
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newspaper report that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he would rather bodies piled "high in their thousands" than order a third lockdown is not true, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday.
The Daily Mail newspaper said Johnson said at an October meeting at Downing Street: "No more ****ing lockdowns – let the bodies pile high in their thousands."
"It's not true - it's been categorically denied by practically everyone," Wallace told Sky when asked about the reported remark, adding that Johnson was focused on the COVID response.
"We're getting into the sort of comedy chapter now of these gossip stories - you know unnamed sources by unnamed advisers talking about unnamed events. You know - look - none of this is serious," Wallace said.
Earlier, Johnson issued a clarification that he personally covered the cost of refurbishing his Downing Street flat, a minister said, seeking to quash claims by Johnson's former top adviser that the prime minister had planned to get donors to pay for it secretly.
"What I know is the prime minister has personally met the costs of the flat refurbishment and that is what people in Britain want to know," Liz Truss, Britain's trade minister, told BBC television on Sunday.
Dominic Cummings, who was Johnson's key adviser on the Brexit campaign and helped him to win an election in 2019 before a bust-up last year, said on Friday that Johnson wanted to donors to secretly pay for the renovation and he told the prime minister the plans were "unethical, foolish, possibly illegal".
Johnson's office has said the government had followed the rules over the refurbishment.
But the opposition Labour Party is calling for an investigation into how Johnson funded the refurbishment.
It also wants a broader independent commission to look into ethics and standards in government after a lobbying scandal involving former leader David Cameron who tried to get ministers to help the now failed finance firm Greensill Capital.
Truss declined to comment on Sunday when asked whether a donor initially paid for the refurbishment of the Downing Street apartment and Johnson then repaid the donor.
"What I agree with is that the prime minister has met the costs, that everything will be declared in line (with the rules) including for tax purposes," she said.
