Boris Johnson Accused of "Let the Bodies Pile High" Comment

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure, as further Conservative insiders have added weight to the claims that they heard the PM say that he would rather see "bodies pile high" than allow a third lockdown. Johnson has vehemently denied making the comments. He has described the accusations as "total rubbish".

Johnson speaking in the House of Commons earlier this month. Credit: Reuters

However, ITV News, BBC News, The Guardian, and Politico have all spoken to multiple sources who say they heard Johnson making the comments in his office in October 2020. According to journalist Robert Peston: "He was in his study and was shouting. I've got two ear-witnesses to all this and there's a third ... Both of my witnesses say that if asked under oath they would confirm the reports that ITV has put out and indeed The Mail have put out." This implies that senior current, and former aides, could potentially testify against the prime minister in the forthcoming inquiry into the UK government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The accusations were first reported in the Daily Mail on Monday 26th April. Johnson’s alleged remarks were supposedly made after he felt forced into agreeing to the four-week national lockdown in November, which was implemented months after it was recommended by SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) scientists to curb increasing coronavirus cases over the Spring. Johnson apparently warned that he would never again back another national lockdown, no matter the casualties.

This scandal comes as Boris Johnson faces further pressures from other potential political scandals. The PM’s former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, has made several serious allegations about the PM’s personal conduct in the last few months. Rumours that Johnson improperly sought political donations to pay for a refurbishment of his flat have circulated the news in recent weeks, and questions have been raised as a result of an accusation that the PM sought to delay a leak inquiry that would implicate a close friend of his fiancée.

Johnson with ex-senior aide Cummings. Credit: North Wales Chronicle.

Downing Street has repudiated all of these allegations. However, despite on-the-record denials from Johnson and his spokesperson, the BBC has reported that it had confirmed the remark of "let the bodies pile high" with sources, and they said that the utterances were made "during a heated discussion in Number 10".

Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has since defended the prime minister in the House of Commons: "I was in the meeting that afternoon with the prime minister and other ministers … the prime minister made a decision in that meeting to trigger a second lockdown, he made his subsequent decision to trigger a third lockdown." He continued, "This is a prime minister who’s been in a hospital himself in intensive care. The idea that he would say any such thing I find incredible. I was in that room, I never heard language of that kind."

One of the sources who spoke to The Guardian said that "Gove did not hear the comments himself", and suggested that ministers who did not know if the comments were true or not should not deny them so strongly, nor defend the PM. The Scottish National Party has called for the Prime Minister to resign if it can be proved that he made the remarks. There have also been suggestions that Cummings has "taped evidence" to back up the claims, and that he is prepared to give evidence to MPs in May.

Since the accusations, dozens of grieving families have taken to social media, sharing pictures and memories of loved ones who they lost to COVID-19. "These ‘bodies’ were our loved ones," COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said, adding: ‘Mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, grandparents, husbands, and wives.’ Furthermore, the hashtag #boristheliar was trending on Twitter immediately following the Daily Mail’s article.