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The Spectator's Notes

The difference between private and public conversation

1 May 2021

9:00 AM

1 May 2021

9:00 AM

Like almost everyone else writing on the subject, I have no idea whether Boris Johnson told colleagues in October that he would rather ‘let the bodies pile high in their thousands’ than have another lockdown. When such words are reported, they are given to journalists ‘on lobby terms’ and are therefore unattributable.

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