Senior Tories have forged doubt on Boris Johnson’s declare that he critically thought-about invading the Netherlands to grab vaccines in the course of the pandemic, saying the story had clearly been overblown and re-heated to spice up gross sales of his memoirs.
The previous prime minister says in his new ebook, Unleashed, that he requested senior members of the armed forces about the opportunity of conducting an “aquatic raid” on a warehouse in Leiden in March 2021 with a purpose to pay money for 5m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which he believed the EU didn’t wish to be exported to the UK.
Johnson tells how he convened a gathering of navy “high brass” in Downing Road to be informed the way it may very well be carried out with the usage of RIBs (inflexible inflatable boats) that might navigate up canals “underneath the duvet of darkness”.
He writes that after being informed that it might not be attainable to do that “undetected” and that the UK would then have to clarify why it was invading a Nato ally, he, too, concluded that the plan was “nuts”.
Ministers who labored with Johnson mentioned they believed the plan was by no means critically thought-about and that the previous prime minister might have put ahead such concepts largely as a joke, understanding he may later make the very most of them in his memoirs.
In addition they famous that the supposed plan had by no means been talked about by the previous PM – or anybody else – in his proof underneath oath to the Covid inquiry.
One former Tory minister who was very carefully concerned with the pandemic response informed the Observer: “These had been occasions of maximum strain when numerous outlandish proposals had been put ahead, however the concept we might invade a European neighbour was by no means on the desk.”
One other supply mentioned: “He has clearly introduced this one out of the bag for his ebook.”
The previous overseas workplace minister Alan Duncan, who was Johnson’s efficient deputy when he was overseas secretary, mentioned: “I doubt it was ever an actual proposal. However on condition that issues had been so critical at the moment, even when it had been only a flight of fancy it’s actually slightly worrying.”
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Johnson is predicted to earn as much as £4m from his memoirs, that are being serialised within the Every day Mail and Mail on Sunday to coincide with the opening of the Tory occasion convention in Birmingham, which begins on Sunday.
