Boris Johnson has tonight addressed the 1922 committee of Conservative backbenchers over the government’s roadmap for ending lockdown. The Prime Minister told MPs that a third wave of coronavirus reaching the UK from Europe was ‘inevitable’. However, he insisted that the UK had built up resources to deal with any such threat and the country’s roadmap for ending the lockdown remained on track.
Discussing recent criticism of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, Johnson defended the jab, pointing out that it was produced at cost. He told MPs he had ‘nothing against big Pharma’ or big farmers – this was a reference to the Chief Whip and Nottinghamshire farmer, Mark Spencer, who was sitting beside him. He also put the success of the vaccine rollout down to ‘greed’ and ‘capitalism’. Before hastily retracting his comments – and telling MPs to forget what he said. Government aides have since sought to play down his comments – insisting it was a joke rather than a suggestion the UK had been greedy on vaccines.
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