"Let the bodies pile high" - what a surprise that Boris Johnson's 'near death' Covid experience hasn’t changed him


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Late last night, the Daily Mail made explosive allegations that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he would "rather see bodies piled high in their thousands" than impose a third lockdown on the country. 

Yet, it was just over a year ago that Boris Johnson was himself admitted to Intensive Care suffering with Coronavirus.

After being placed on oxygen and recovering thanks to the hard work and dedication of the NHS staff who cared for him, the prime minister revealed that his condition was so grave that he believed he was on death's door.

Following his recovery and subsequent discharge, Johnson published a seemingly heartfelt video expressing his gratitude for the 'love-powered' NHS that "saved [his] life" - and personally thanking two nurses, "Jenny from New Zealand" and "Luis from Porto", who stood by his bedside for "every second of the night" for their care.

Many in our esteemed mainstream media seemed to believe that Johnson's "near-death" experience would change him as a man - that the serial liar and ostensibly heartless politician would somehow be reborn as a human being who did actually care for other people, but just needed to be prodded in the right direction to realise it.

One such noteworthy tweet was published by ITV's Political Editor, Robert Peston - who opined:

"Having babies change us. Near-death experiences change us. @BorisJohnson has the full set. So will he become a very different PM from the one the UK voted for in December?"

 

 

And it wasn't just right-wing media poodles fawning over Johnson either. The gist of Peston's prophecy was also repeated in numerous supposedly liberal publications, such as The Guardian.

Indeed, a Guardian comment piece by Rafael Behr categorically states that "Coronavirus has changed Boris Johnson" and that lockdown sceptic Tory MPs would be in for a hard time dissuading the Prime Minister from following the science in future.

So, what a surprise it is today that all of these predictions turned out to be completely untrue. Boris Johnson hasn't changed at all - if anything he may actually be worse. And, what's even more ironic, is that it is Robert Peston himself confirming it.

Late last night, the Daily Mail made the explosive allegation that the Prime Minister said that he would "rather see bodies piled high in their thousands" than impose a third lockdown on the country.

 

 

And, in a piece for ITV News on Monday, Political Editor Robert Peston confirmed the allegation from numerous sources, stating:

"1) The charge that Prime Minister did say he would rather see 'bodies pile high in their thousands' than order a third lockdown (as reported in the Daily Mail)

[...] I am told he shouted it in his study just after he agreed to the second lockdown 'in a rage'. The doors to the Cabinet room and outer office were allegedly open and supposedly a number of people heard. I am bothering to repeat this assertion about what the Prime Minister said because two eyewitnesses – or perhaps I should say 'ear witnesses' – have corroborated the Daily Mail's account to me. Also these sources insist they did not brief the Mail, so that suggests there are three sources."

After spending five years relentlessly attacking Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party at every available opportunity, the UK mainstream media undoubtedly played a leading role in helping Boris Johnson - a man they knew to be entirely inept and clearly incompetent - to oversee the single biggest public health crisis facing the UK in over a century.

It is therefore entirely unsurprising to see them desperately clamouring to try and convince other people that things might not be so bad; that the clearly barbarous clown that they supported by proxy could somehow be rehabilitated or educated into competence.

But the damage has already been done. 150,000 Brits have died, and the country's economy lays in ruins.

Boris Johnson's near-death experience hasn't changed him one bit - in fact he's probably even more callous than he was before.

 

(Writing by Tom D. Rogers, editing by Michael O'Sullivan)

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