Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted on Wednesday that his close government team during the pandemic was “too male-dominated” but denied accusations from some senior officials that the environment was “toxic.”
“The balance between genders could have been better,” he declared, when asked by lawyer Hugo Keith in the context of the official investigation into the health crisis.
Questioned about the offensive and sexist language used in WhatsApp messages between him and his circle, especially by his then advisor Dominic Cummings, Johnson said it was important to maintain a “challenging” atmosphere and argued that all governments have “challenging characters whose opinions could be unfit to be made public”.
He said he was “unaware” of the complaint made during this investigation by Cabinet Office Undersecretary Helen MacNamara, that people did not want to work at government headquarters because of the sexist and toxic environment.
Johnson also rejected the claim of, among others, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who said he had never seen “a group of people less prepared to govern.”
The former Tory leader argued that an internal culture of “deference”, in which people would have been afraid to express critical opinions, would have been worse.
The head of the Executive between 2019 and 2022 also denied that he placed Cummings at the center of decision-making to the detriment of the ministers, as the former head of the Economy Sajid Javid accused him, and insisted that in any case the advisors advise and those responsible decide.
Johnson also argued that his cabinet was more reluctant than he was to impose “non-pharmaceutical interventions” such as lockdowns.
The former president testifies between today and tomorrow before the investigative panel chaired by former judge Heather Hallett, which at this stage examines the decisions of the authorities.
