Brian May attacks Boris Johnson over handling of Covid pandemic: ‘At every point, he did too little, too late’

Exclusive: Musician calls out government’s ‘bad decisions’ during pandemic, including failure to close the country’s borders earlier

Brian May has criticised Boris Johnson for his handling of the pandemic (Getty)

Brian May has condemned Boris Johnson for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with The Independent, the Queen musician was in a frank mood as he discussed the government’s Covid failures, along with reflecting on his life and career.

“I think it would have been impossible for anyone to make worse decisions than Boris,” he said of the UK prime minister. “At every point he did too little, too late. Hundreds, if not thousands of our relatives died because of bad advice and because of the bad decisions that Boris made with [Matt] Hancock and those other people.”

He continued: “If [Johnson] had taken the precautions of shutting down the borders a year earlier, we wouldn’t have been in the situation we were. And the fact that he’s willing to trade lives quite openly for economic gain, I find horrific... completely unacceptable.”

May compared it to “Winston Churchill going out in his garden and seeing the plans overhead and the bodies and going ‘the bombs are dropping! The bombs are dropping! Should we hide? No, actually let’s think of the economic consequences of hiding...’”

Last month, more than 1,200 leading doctors and scientists signed a letter condemning Johnson’s decision to forget ahead with the so-called Freedom Day on 19 July, describing it as “unethical” and “dangerous”.

The letter warned that opening the country should be delayed until “everyone, including adolescents, have been offered vaccination and uptake is high”.

Johnson has been repeatedly criticised for his decisions during the pandemic, and was accused of taking “another huge gamble” after lifting restrictions in July.

In the same Independent interview, May discussed his recovery after suffering a heart attack last year, his reaction to the death of late bandmate Freddie Mercury, and the new remastered version of his solo album, Back to the Light.

You can read the full interview here.