During the COVID pandemic, the former prime minister expressed his distaste for those who followed his government’s instructions in an interview with News’ Wilfred Frost, saying he “totally rejects” such statements.
In a chapter of his memoir Unleashed, Mr. Johnson discussed combating the virus’s second wave in the fall of 2020.
His writing highlighted the “sheer complexity” of implementing the tier system, saying, “The real question is why on earth the public so avidly craved these rules and why they were so willing to have their doings circumscribed in such rabbinical detail.”
“Like a kind of religion, detailed rituals you just obeyed, Leviticus like in the hope of salvation,” he continued, describing how the rules operated.
When asked if he was showing contempt or making fun of those who adhered to the guidelines strictly, Mr. Johnson responded, “I completely reject that.
According to him, the argument he was putting out gets to the “heart of one of the difficulties” in attempting to gauge how effective lockdowns are.
It was stated that “most people wanted regulation, and they wanted to be told what to do in quite some detail,” despite the fact that a “large, honourable” group of people felt the restrictions went too far.
According to him, individuals need these regulations not because they lack the capacity for personal accountability but rather because they are afraid.
