Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Johnson resisting CoI into UK’s ‘disastrous & corrupt’ COVID-19 crisis

Johnson resisting CoI into UK’s ‘disastrous & corrupt’ COVID-19 crisis

With the fifth highest death toll and COVID-19 infection rates in the world, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson ‘aka ‘Boris’ has so far resisted calls for an immediate inquiry into his Government’s disastrous handling of the pandemic.

This comes as the same UK Government on January 18, 2021, had secretly prepared and launched a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into allegations of corruption in the Virgin Islands (VI) Governemnt, even as the Johnson administration was resisting calls for inquiries into UK corruption since mid-2020.

In an article published in the Cambridge University Varsity Newspaper on Friday, March 5, 2021, one student echoed calls for a public inquiry, as shared by some doctors and bereaved families into the management of the UK crisis.


Bold Hypocrisy?


In an article published in the Cambridge University Varsity Newspaper on Friday, March 5, 2021, one student echoed calls for a public inquiry, as shared by many doctors and bereaved families into the management of the UK crisis.

While underscoring that a CoI into Johnson’s pandemic response is of utmost importance and needed 'now', the article cited “blatant corruption" manifested in COVID contracts given to Conservative party donors which presented strong grounds for an inquiry.

“One investigation recently found that contracts worth £881 million have been awarded to individuals who have given a total sum of £8.2 million to the Conservatives. Though no direct exchanges have been identified, these contracts deserve closer scrutiny.”

Richard Horton, the Editor of the Lancet, one of the UK’s leading medical journals, has described the UK government’s pandemic response as ‘the greatest science policy failure for a generation’.

He called the government’s delay in ordering the first lockdown a ‘national scandal’.

While the UK Government had time to administratively prepare itself and fund the VI CoI, it does not have time to submit to an independent inquiry on its own affairs even as strong allegations of corruption and incompetence in the Johnson administration linger.


UK Gov’t ‘Sluggish & Incompetent’ - UK Gov’t advisor


Other respected Government advisers like Sir Patrick J.T. Vallance spoke publicly of the government’s strategies as one that was “characterised by sluggishness and incompetence,”

Despite these adjectives, Johnson and his government continues to resist calls for an inquiry but instead, had to moral fortitude to execute and fund a CoI on the VI, even as the territory successfully navigates the COVID-19 pandemic

A possible delay tactic, the Cambridge Varsity article suggests, “It seems probable that Mr Johnson does not want an inquiry’s work to start in earnest any time soon. The claim that an independent inquiry would simply take up too much government time isn’t plausible given the fact that an inquiry might take months to prepare itself administratively before actually starting to collect evidence from the government.”

Richard Horton, the Editor of the Lancet, one of the UK’s leading medical journals, has described the UK government’s pandemic response as ‘the greatest science policy failure for a generation’.

Johnson delaying inquiry


“Mr Johnson should have no problem announcing an inquiry right now. He has said that his government ‘did everything we could’ to limit the pandemic’s impact. One would then expect that the Prime Minister, totally confident in his government’s excellent pandemic response, would have no trouble setting up an inquiry immediately. But Mr Johnson’s resistance to starting an inquiry at once means that at some level he knows this pandemic response has been horribly botched,” the article says.

In essence, while the UK Government had time to administratively prepare itself and fund the VI CoI, it does not have the time to submit to an independent inquiry on its own affairs even as strong allegations of corruption and incompetence in the Johnson administration linger.

Unlike the Johnson administration, the Andrew A. Fahie government has since announced that it welcomes the UK CoI because the government 'has nothing to hide,' however, Local Political pundits and a former Turks and Caicos Premier, Micheal E. Misick have described the inquiry as a conclusion already written.


Fahie Gov’t cooperating with VI CoI


Unlike the Johnson administration, the Fahie government has since announced that it welcomes the UK CoI based on unfounded claims of corruption, because the government “has nothing to hide.”

Local Political pundits and a former Turks and Caicos Premier, Micheal E. Misick however, have described the inquiry as a conclusion already written, where the UK is seeking to take over the territory’s affairs, as the democratically elected government make moves towards a new round of constitutional review, and a more self-determined future.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
×