Thursday 1 September 2022 10:07 AM Boris's ex-spinner Lee Cain hits back at Rishi Sunak over lockdown claims trends now
Former No10 spin doctor Lee Cain has hit back at Rishi Sunak's claims the trade-offs of the Covid lockdown were never discussed
Rishi Sunak has been accused of being a Covid revisionist in a scathing attack by Boris Johnson's ex-spin doctor Lee Cain.
The ex-Chancellor and Tory leadership hopeful last week claimed it had been a mistake to 'empower' scientists in the pandemic and that he had been forbidden from discussing the 'trade-offs' of lockdown.
Mr Sunak's comments were condemned by both scientists and former No10 insiders like Mr Cain, a former head of communications who once dressed as a chicken to chase David Cameron around the country.
Even ex-aide turned harsh critic Dominic Cummings rose to the outgoing Mr Johnson's defence and accused Mr Sunak of peddling 'dangerous nonsense'.
Now Mr Cain has written a letter to The Spectator, to stop what he called 'Covid revisionism' by critics wanting to 'rewrite history'.
Contrary to what the self-proclaimed 'underdog' in the race to be Prime Minister has claimed, Mr Cain said ministers and scientists 'agonised' over lockdown, and that it wasn't an 'easy decision'.
'None of this is true – it is Covid revisionism,' he said.
In fact, the former insider claims the biggest mistake the Government made was not locking down sooner.
'As the pandemic fades into our collective memory – and critics try to rewrite history – it’s clear that the biggest mistake we made was not locking down but doing so too late,' he wrote.
Ex-chancellor and Tory leadership hopeful Mr Sunak has been called a 'Covid revisionist' by Mr Cain following an explosive interview where the former minister claimed he had been forbidden from highlight the impact of lockdowns on the country
Mr Cain said he remembered the morning of March 14 2020, about a week before the nation went into lockdown, when Mr Johnson and his advisers were told current measures to control the spread of Covid were failing.
He said the Prime Minister was presented with three scenarios, first, do nothing, second, enforce social distancing, or third, a national lockdown.
Only the final option would prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed, Mr Cain said.
But he added that despite facing the prospect of the NHS collapsing within three weeks, Mr Johnson still waited over a week to enact lockdown with Government 'paralysed' by the potential trade-offs of