LONDON, June 16 — Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser reignited a campaign of criticism of the government on Wednesday, publishing a smartphone exchange in which the prime minister branded Britain’s coronavirus testing programme “hopeless”.
In a new blog posting, Cummings intensified his criticism of both Johnson and health minister Matt Hancock over their handling of the pandemic, less than a month after accusing government of being responsible for thousands of avoidable Covid deaths. Hancock rejected the allegations and some in the Conservative Party say that Cummings has an axe to grind after being forced from his post.
He posted screenshots of electronic conversations, which he said were with the prime minister, in which Johnson responded to Cummings’ complaints about the slow progress of Hancock’s efforts with the words “Totally hopeless”.