Boris Johnson Says 3rd Wave of COVID-19 is “Probable”: Interview Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Have you ever said that you’d rather see bodies pile up than go into another lockdown?

Boris Johnson: (00:08)
No, but again, I think the important thing I think that people want us to get on and do as a government is to make sure that the lockdowns work, and they have. And I really pay tribute to the people of this country, this whole country of ours that have really pulled together. And working with the vaccination program, we’ve got the disease under control.

Boris Johnson: (00:33)
I mean, the numbers of deaths, the number of hospitalizations, are currently very low. That doesn’t mean that we’ve got it totally licked. It doesn’t mean that COVID is over. We’ve got to be realistic about that. Unfortunately, there probably will be another wave of the disease.

Boris Johnson: (00:53)
We’ve built up what I think are some pretty robust fortifications against the next wave. We’ll have to see how strong they really are in due course, but in the meantime, everybody could come forward and get your vaccine when you’re asked.

Speaker 1: (01:09)
[inaudible 00:01:09] but you didn’t make those comments about the bodies?

Boris Johnson: (01:14)
Yes, yes, and yes and yes.

Speaker 1: (01:17)
Did you ever discuss using donations pulled for the [inaudible 00:01:20] establishment?

Boris Johnson: (01:22)
If there’s anything to be said about that, any declaration to be made, that will of course be made in due course. And I’m finding that actually what people here in North Wales, here in Wrexham want us to concentrate on is making sure we get on with the vaccine rollout.

Speaker 1: (01:40)
[inaudible 00:01:40].

Boris Johnson: (01:44)
Absolutely not. But again, I’m finding that a lot of this stuff that people are talking about is actually not what’s coming up on the doorstep or the issues that people are raising. What people want to know about is what is the government doing to get on with our agenda to unite and level up across the country.

Speaker 3: (02:05)
What I want is a full and transparent investigation into everything that’s going on. We’ve got lots of investigations going on, but we haven’t got anything that’s looking at the pattern of behavior. Day after day, the review allocations of sleaze, of favors, of privileged access. We need a full investigation, we’ll get to the bottom of that, are most important. We make recommendations about change because we need to change the rules.

Speaker 3: (02:30)
We cannot have this situation where we’ve got dodgy contracts. We’ve got WhatsApp groups, we’ve got the health secretary with shares in a company that may be getting contract from the NHS. You’ve got David Cameron texting people about Greensill. We cannot go on like this, day after day, with the drip, drip, drip of allegation. We need to get to the bottom of it. We need strong recommendations for change because I think for a lot of people, this is beginning to feel very strongly. One rule for them and another rule for everybody else.

Speaker 3: (03:02)
Because it’s very important we have our answers in relation to the redecoration foundings group. And it’s all very well, the prime minister saying, Well, say now, while I’m paying for it”. The critical question is, what was the original arrangement? And why is it so complicated? If there’s a straightforward answer, well give it.