The madness of Priti Patel: she denies the Tories backed ‘herd immunity’ but we all know it’s true
Eyes wide, teeth bared: Priti Patel looked more ready to murder Andrew Marr than respond to his questions in any reasonable way. While she managed to stop short of doing the former, she also failed to do the latter.
I wish I had seen Priti Patel on the Marr show, eyes wide and staring, lying through her bared teeth that the Tory government didn’t follow a “herd immunity” policy that would have been more like mass murder.
I would have laughed. Bitterly.
She was responding to comments by Dominic Cummings:
Asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr whether herd immunity had been government policy at the beginning of the Covid pandemic – before a vaccine had been created – Ms Patel replied “absolutely not”.
She said she would not comment on what Mr Cummings would say ahead of his appearance in front of a parliamentary committee this week, but added “our strategy was always about public health, saving lives and protecting the NHS”.
Cummings himself has felt no such need for restraint, but has managed to make himself appear far more rational:
In a flurry of tweets the PM’s former top aide said it had not been a secret at the time.
“Herd immunity wasn’t ‘a secret strategy’, it was THE OFFICIAL PUBLIC EXPLAINED ON TV/RADIO STRATEGY!”
He noted health officials, including SAGE members, had explained the strategy in those terms in broadcast interviews during March and April.
We know this to be true. Boris Johnson infamously pushed “herd immunity” during an interview on ITV’s This Morning:
Here's Boris Johnson talking about herd immunity on national TV(March 2020) #marr pic.twitter.com/Ydqh2SUF3L
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) May 23, 2021
Cummings continued:
“It became clear neither [Matt] Hancock/[Cabinet Office] understood herd immunity effects: 100s of 1000s choking to death + no NHS for *anybody* for months + dead unburied + [economic] implosion.
“So we moved to Plan B: suppression and a ‘Manhattan Project’ for drugs/vaccines + test&trace etc.”
And now we hear that, because they did it in such a stupid, corrupt and cack-handed way, it’s estimated there have been around 210,000 “excess” deaths – deaths that should have been avoidable.
They fooled the nation back in March 2020 – and they’ve been fooling the nation ever since.
Are you going to let them fool you?
Source: Coronavirus: Patel denies No 10 pursued herd immunity policy – BBC News
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
