Fury as Labour MP Valerie Vaz suggests PM’s Covid scare exaggerated

Labour’s Valerie Vaz issued a grovelling apology tonight after suggesting Boris Johnson pretended to be seriously ill with coronavirus.

The former frontbencher, axed by Keir Starmer earlier this month, said during a TV appearance that the PM was ‘not quite at death’s door’ despite what the public was ‘led to believe’.

Confronted by Tory MP Simon Clarke over the comment on the BBC‘s Politics Live show, Ms Vaz refused to withdraw the claim completely, saying: ‘I don’t know. None of us were in the room.’

The exchanges came as the panel discussed stinging criticism of the government’s response from Dominic Cummings – who is due to give bombshell evidence to a Commons committee on Wednesday. 

But after a backlash Ms Vaz issued a statement this evening saying: ‘I wish to clarify my remarks and apologise if any offence was caused. 

‘I never intended to give the suggestion that the Prime Minister was not seriously ill.’ 

As she spoke about Mr Cummings’ Twitter condemnation of the stance taken by ministers in March last year, Ms Vaz said: ‘The PM was in hospital for a while, not quite at death’s door that we were led to believe… ‘

An incredulous Mr Clarke broke in to ask here to withdraw the remark.  

‘That is an extraordinary thing to say,’ the former minister said. ‘Are you impugning the PM’s integrity about that?’

He added later: ‘It is genuinely wrong, Valerie, to question how sick the PM was. He was in intensive care and very very ill.’

Under pressure from Mr Clarke and presenter Jo Coburn to take back the jibe, Ms Vaz said: ‘I don’t know. None of us were in the room. None of us were in the room.’

When Mr Clarke again pointed out that the PM was in intensive care, she said: ‘OK, so he was in intensive care. 

‘I don’t know, honestly, I’m not his doctor… I am just saying people have died.’

Ms Vaz insisted the point she was trying to make was that Mr Cummings was in a key position with huge influence over government policy. 

Ms Vaz was shadow Commons leader until Sir Keir reshuffled his team in the wake of the disastrous Hartlepool by-election this month. 

Mr Johnson and Matt Hancock both tested positive for Covid-19 on March 27, 2020, just four days after the country entered the first lockdown.

On April 5 Downing Street announced that the PM had been admitted to hospital for tests as a ‘precautionary step’ as his symptoms persist.

The following day his condition worsened again and he was moved to St Thomas’ Hospital’s intensive care unit.

On April 7 his condition stabilised and he was moved back to the ward. He was discharged five days later and continued his recovery at Chequers. 

Mr Cummings escalated his extraordinary assault on Mr Johnson today claiming the PM had no plan for a Covid lockdown before experts started ‘screaming’ that hundreds of thousands of people could die.

The former No10 chief launched another devastating swipe accusing Matt Hancock and the Cabinet Office for failing to understand the concept of ‘herd immunity’ as the pandemic erupted. 

Mr Cummings – who was at the heart of decision-making – said the original intention was to allow the virus to play out quickly to avoid a second peak that could overwhelm the NHS in winter.

But in a long Twitter thread he said it became apparent the strategy was ‘disastrously misconceived’ and a ‘Plan B had to be bodged amid utter chaos’. 

He claimed that by March 13 last year the government still had ‘neither an intention to lockdown nor… any official plan for doing so’. 

Saying that experts had been ‘screaming’ at the PM, the maverick adviser posted a chart from the time showing a 259,000 death toll as an ‘optimal single peak strategy’ – against a ‘do nothing’ option that could have meant 510,000 casualties.

A full lockdown was eventually announced on March 23, with significant curbs having stayed in place ever since as the government wrestled to keep infections down. The death toll on the main measure is just under 128,000.  

The latest salvo from Mr Cummings came as he prepares for an explosive evidence session with MPs on Wednesday amid rumours he is determined to force the PM out.

Downing Street brushed off the onslaught today, denying allegations that surfaced over the weekend that Mr Johnson had missed key Cobra meetings early in the crisis because he was writing a book about Shakespeare.   

Mr Cummings has already branded the Department of Health a ‘smoking’ ruin over its dismal efforts to procure PPE and ventilators, saying the vaccination drive has only been successful because it was taken out of the department’s hands.   

Mr Cummings wrote: ‘Even AFTER we shifted to PlanB, COBR documents had the ”OPTIMAL single peak strategy” graphs showing 260k dead cos the system was so confused in the chaos’.

Downing Street insists that allowing large numbers to catch the virus and become immune to prevent its spread had never been its plan.

But Mr Cummings said ‘herd immunity’ was ‘officially seen as unavoidable’ in the week of March 9, 2020, and that it would come either ‘in a single peak over by September, or in a second peak in winter’. 

He said that the first option was ‘seen as easier to manage and less of a catastrophe so it was Plan A’, but then the government ‘started to figure out Plan B to dodge herd immunity until vaccines’.    

Mr Cummings said that in the week of March 9 – seven days before Mr Johnson told people to stop non-essential contact with others – it ‘became clear’ that neither Health Secretary Matt Hancock nor the Cabinet Office understood herd immunity.

He said the policy would have left hundreds of thousands ‘choking to death’, no NHS treatment for months, unburied dead and an economic implosion.

Ministers then moved to ‘Plan B’, he said, adding: ‘Critical as I am of the PM in all sorts of ways, it’s vital to understand the disaster was not just his fault.

‘The official plan was disastrously misconceived … and a Plan B had to be bodged amid total and utter chaos.’

Adding to his attack today, Mr Cummings dismissed the idea that the government was always intending to lock down – but just waited for the right moment. 

‘SAGE said *literally the opposite*: lockdown = suppression = ‘near certainty’ of 2nd peak & this was thought to be much WORSE than single peak/herd immunity by Sep, hence graph ,’ he wrote.

Mr Cummings said that by March 14 one of the things being ‘screamed at the PM was ”there is *no plan for lockdown* & our current official plan will kill at least 250k & destroy the NHS”.’ 

Mr Johnson did not miss emergency meetings on the response to the emerging coronavirus pandemic because he was working on a book, Downing Street insisted today.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he was ‘not aware’ of Mr Johnson doing any work on a biography of William Shakespeare while in office.

Mr Johnson did not chair the first five meetings of the Cobra emergency committee in January and February 2020, but Downing Street insisted this was not unusual and was nothing to do with any book.

No 10 faced questions after a Sunday Times report suggested officials fear Dominic Cummings will use an appearance before MPs to accuse Mr Johnson of missing key meetings on the crisis because he was working on a biography of Shakespeare, because he needed the money to fund his divorce from Marina Wheeler, his second wife.

Asked if the Prime Minister had spent time on the book, his official spokesman said: ‘No, not that I’m aware of.’

The Prime Minister has been ‘ensuring the public are kept as protected as possible during this global pandemic’, the spokesman added.

In response to the suggestion the book was responsible for him missing Cobra meetings, the spokesman said: ‘No, and I think there are a number of incidents I can run you through where Cobras have been chaired by relevant secretaries of state.’