Johnson like an 'absent football manager' during pandemic, inquiry told

Boris Johnson was like an “absent" football manager during the pandemic, a public inquiry has heard.

- GEORGE THOMPSON

Mark Drakeford, the outgoing first minister for Wales, criticised the former prime minister’s leadership and failure to chair meetings with the devolved nations during the pandemic, at the UK Covid-19 inquiry yesterday.

In a written statement to the inquiry, Mr Drakeford described Michael Gove – the minister for the Cabinet Office during the early part of the pandemic and point of contact between the two governments – as “a centre forward without a team lined up behind him, and where the manager was largely absent”.

Addressing the inquiry, Mr Drakeford clarified he was talking about Mr Johnson. He said: “The absent manager was the prime minister because he was never in these meetings or at the table.”