Boris Johnson has compared himself to Shakespeare’s tragic hero Othello – and suggested his former aide Dominic Cummings is scheming villain Iago.
The prime minister’s remarks to a meeting of Tory MPs on Monday night came after a report produced by senior civil servant Sue Gray catalogued a series of “failures of leadership and judgment” within No 10 and the Cabinet Office while England was under coronavirus restrictions in 2020 and 2021.
But Gray was unable to provide meaningful findings because the police were now investigating at least 12 gatherings linked to government properties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
They include a “gathering in the No 10 Downing Street flat” on November 13 2020, the night Johnson’s former aides Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain left their roles.
The Shakespeare play referenced by Johnson in front of Tory MPs yesterday has jealousy, passion and race at the core – and Othello, an honourable black military man is manipulated by his bitter white subordinate Iago into killing his wife, Desdemona, after being fooled into thinking she had been cheating.
Cummings was sacked in December 2020 from his role as the prime minister’s top aide after reportedly losing out power to the prime minister’s wife, Carrie, according to the Daily Mail.
He made a series of allegations about government parties reportedly held throughout Covid restrictions, which are now being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
This week, Cummings used New York magazine to accuse Johnson of not standing up to his wife over his policy responsibilities – and alleged that the prime minister regards himself as a ‘king’ or a ‘Roman emperor’ who only cares about statues made of himself.
He told the publication that getting rid of Johnson is “unpleasant but necessary”. “It’s like sort of fixing the drains,” he said.
He also said Johnson was useful in order to get Brexit done and beat former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 general election, but added: “After that, what’s the point of him and Carrie just rattling around in there and f***ing everything up for everyone and not doing the job properly?”
Despite Cummings’ views of Johnson, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab claimed Boris Johnson has “overwhelming” support from Tory MPs.
Raab, who is the UK’s deputy prime minister, told Times Radio: “On the specific issues Sue Gray cited, I think he has addressed all of those questions in a fulsome way and, frankly, at the political level, my experiences in the Chamber but also at the meeting of Conservative MPs – overwhelmingly MPs backing him, wanting to see us getting on with the job.
“The economy is firing, the vaccine rollout has been a spectacular success. People, and I think our constituents, want to see us getting on with the job.”
Related: WATCH: Theresa May launches withering Commons attack on Boris Johnson
