Passing the buck Boris style
The PM is at the centre of a new storm tonight after he was reported to have put part of the blame for care home 20k+ pandemic deaths onto the care home themselves. According to the Guardian report linked to in the Tweet above
Speaking during a visit to Goole in Yorkshire, Johnson said the pandemic had shown the need to “make sure we look after people better who are in social care”. He went on: “We discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have but we’re learning lessons the whole time. Most important is to fund them properly … but we will also be looking at ways to make sure the care sector long term is properly organised and supported.”
Johnson’s off-the-cuff approach has caused him problems before but this could be much more serious because of the sheer scale of the tragedy.
Given that widespread view is that the death toll was much higher because of the government’s delay in taking action he has to be very careful saying anything that could appear to be him trying to shift the blame.
Meanwhile Sunak waits in the wings.