The one thing one might say in Johnson's favour is very nuanced. Had we remained in the EU and had labour been in charge (two requirements) it is possible that the start of the vaccine rollout would have been far less intense than it was, because we would have not greedily vacuumed up every available jab over a period of several weeks.
However, had we remained in the EU, the liklihood that we would have gone along with an EU-wide co-ordinated vaccine rollout would have been the same whoever might have been PM. But surely we were able to gain a massive Covid victory precisely because Johnson had taken us out of the EU.....let's see the facts:
As it happens there was no EU requirement for an EU-wide co-ordinated vaccine rollout. Initially Germany also went on a vaccine grab, and voluntarily backed off. They were not compelled. Surely they suffered compared with the UK?
Actually, despite our vaccine grab our Covid death rate is not head and shoulders above the 'wanky' EU nations.
From https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality (I have included some European non-EU nations for completeness)
Nation Deaths/100K population
Finland 88
Denmark 112
Netherlands 134
Ireland 153
Switzerland 160
Germany 170
Luxembourg 175
Sweden 189
Austria 223
France 231
Spain 232
Portugal 239
UK 267
Belgium 278
Italy 279
Greece 291
Poland 308
That is not a triumph, and it does not support any argument that Johnson handled Covid well, and that he was able to give the UK a Covid boost because we were out of the EU.
In any case, our vaccine grab was not even driven by Johnson. It was the NHS itself.
Folks, we have been lied to. Lied and lied and lied again.
Time for the lies to stop.
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