LONDON — Boris Johnson asked the U.K.’s most senior scientist and medical professional if it was possible to use a hairdryer to kill coronavirus, his former top aide Dominic Cummings claimed Wednesday.
In his written submission to Britain’s ongoing coronavirus inquiry, Cummings — who was sacked by Johnson in 2020 and has made clear his ongoing disdain for his old boss — was highly critical of both Johnson’s management of the COVID pandemic and Britain’s governing systems.
In the 115-page document, Cummings said Johnson at one stage “circulated a video of a guy blowing a special hair dryer up his nose ‘to kill COVID’.” The video, which Johnson sent to top advisers and officials via WhatsApp, has since been removed from YouTube.
The former adviser said Johnson then asked the U.K. government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty “what they thought.” Cummings did not detail how the top officials responded.
Johnson and other senior politicians, including the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and current PM Rishi Sunak, will face the coronavirus inquiry later this year, where they will be able to give their own account of events.
In her own written evidence Wednesday, former Deputy Cabinet Secretary Helen McNamara — who played a key civil service role during the U.K.’s response to the pandemic — criticized what she called “an absence of humanity” in the administration as the pandemic raged, and said there had been over-centralization of power in the hands of the prime minister’s office.
She said Downing Street under Johnson and Cummings had sidelined female staff and created an unwelcoming environment for them.
