Search icon

News

08th Mar 2021

First Minister of Wales filmed saying Boris Johnson is awful

Simon Lloyd

The First Minister of Wales made his feelings about the PM explicitly clear during the footage

Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, has been filmed saying Boris Johnson “really, really is awful” following a meeting with the prime minister during last year.

Drakeford was filmed as part of an S4C documentary which covered his response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Part of the film shows his reaction to a Cobra meeting, held to discuss a lorry travel ban in France.

France imposed a ban on lorry traffic arriving from Britain in December over fears of a new variant of the virus which had been detected in the UK. The restrictions were later relaxed after an agreement over the testing of lorry drivers was reached between the two countries.

The PM can be heard saying the matter needed to be looked at “urgently” in the footage. While the meeting itself is not permitted to be shown due to secrecy laws, Drakeford’s reaction is featured.

“Dear me, he really, really is awful,” he says. “Imagine that some deadly new variant of the virus had been discovered in France and they were trying to persuade us that there was no need to take any action to stop French lorry drivers from driving across the continent.”

Later asked by an adviser whether he wanted any minutes from the meeting, Drakeford added: “No, I don’t think there is anything at all, other than wringing our hands, a sense of despair.”