BORIS Johnson is “no longer sure” lockdowns worked in tackling Covid.
The former PM said he believes the restrictions “had some effect” but did not fundamentally change things.
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He said: “There were always two waves, whether you were in China, where lockdowns were ruthlessly enforced, or Sweden, where they took a more voluntary approach.”
In his upcoming memoir Unleashed, serialised in the Mail on Sunday, he added: “Maybe there are limits to human agency.
“Maybe it isn’t possible for government action to repel the waves of a highly contagious disease, any more than it is possible to repel the tide of the Thames.
“I am not saying that lockdowns achieved nothing; I am sure they had some effect.
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“But were they decisive in beating back the disease, turning that wave down?
“All I can say is that I am no longer sure.”
His words come after Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, told the Covid inquiry this week that he now fears Mr Johnson’s government failed to convey the threat level of the pandemic correctly when it began.
This week, the Tories meet in Birmingham for the annual party conference — with the four leadership hopefuls facing activists.
Writing in The Sun on Sunday today, Robert Jenrick — vying to replace Rishi Sunak — said he wants to give a tax cut to White Van Man and small businesses.