Boris Johnson denies saying he would rather see ‘bodies pile high’ than enter another lockdown

Boris Johnson has denied saying that he would rather see bodies “pile high” than enter another Covid lockdown.

Asked if he made the comments controversially attributed to him, the prime minister said: “No, but I think the important thing I think people want us to get on and do as a government is to make sure that the lockdowns work.”

Speaking to reporters in Wrexham, he did not deny discussing using donations to fund a refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, however.

Asked if he had ever discussed using donors to pay for the work, Mr Johnson only said: "If there’s anything to be said about that, any declaration to be made, that will, of course, be made in due course.’’

The bodies comment is reported to have been made after a meeting with Michael Gove and other senior ministers, before the government imposed a second national lockdown.

Earlier a Downing Street spokesperson told The Independent: “This is just another lie.”

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, added: “I have known (Mr Johnson) personally for many years and the idea that he is going to go around saying things like that is just wrong.”

Critics have pointed to comments Mr Johnson once made about war torn Libya, predicting a bright future once “they clear the dead bodies” away.

ITV political editor Robert Peston also reported that “two eye-witnesses” had told him that they heard Mr Johnson making the “bodies piling up” remarks.

Mr Peston said he was told the prime minister shouted it in his study shortly after agreeing “in a rage” to the second lockdown.

As the doors to the Cabinet room and outer office were open, a number of people supposedly heard the comment, he reported.

But the PM’s official spokesman denied the account, telling reporters: “The prime minister himself didn’t make that statement and I’m not aware of anyone else (in Downing Street) making that statement.“

The prime minister has fully denied saying this. He is on the record denying saying it.”

The allegation, made in the Daily Mail newspaper, came as Mr Johnson continues to fight a war of words with his ousted former chief aide Dominic Cummings.

Reports at the weekend suggested Mr Cummings might have damning recordings of his time in Downing Street.

Earlier, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson needed to “make a public statement” about the reports.

The Labour leader said: “I think, like everybody reading that, I was astonished to see those words.

“It’s for the Prime Minister, I think, now, to make a public statement about that.

“If he did say those things then he’s got to explain it, if he didn’t, go on the record and publicly explain what was said and what wasn’t said.

“I think everybody will be deeply concerned, not least those all families that have lost someone during this pandemic.”

The decision to order a lockdown last autumn proved extremely controversial, not least when it was leaked ahead of an official announcement.

That leak is the subject of an inquiry to find the so-called "chatty rat" who tipped off the press at the time.

Later today the UK’s most senior civil servant is expected to set out that he has not cleared Mr Cummings over that leak, despite the ex-aide’s claims to the contrary at the end of last week.

Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, is expected to say his inquiry is still "live" when he appears before MPs on the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC).

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said there was a "real stench" around the Government as she called for the Electoral Commission, which polices the party funding rules, to launch a full inquiry into the revamp of the Downing Street flat.

The watchdog confirmed over the weekend it was still looking into whether any of the money relating to the work should have been declared.

Mr Wallace said the Prime Minister paid for the renovations "out of his own pocket".

"The Prime Minister has complied at all stages with the rules and we’ve been very clear on that," he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

"We have engaged with the Electoral Commission and we will continue to engage with that."

But Downing Street is facing increasing questions about whether or not someone else covered the initial cost of the refurbishment, and if that should have been declared as a loan.

Downing Street failed to deny reports that Mr Johnson personally phoned newspaper editors to inform them that he suspected Dominic Cummings of being behind a string of leaks.

In an apparently co-ordinated briefing, three papers carried reports on Friday suggesting the PM was pointing the finger of blame at Mr Cummings.

Asked four times at a Westminster media briefing on Monday whether the PM personally briefed the newspaper’s Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said only that he was “not going to be drawn on” issues relating to leak inquiries which are currently under way.