Boris Johnson asked top UK scientists Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance if Covid-19 could be destroyed by blowing a "special hairdryer" up noses, Dominic Cummings has claimed.
In a "low point" while prime minister, he allegedly sent a video of a man using such a purported device to the men serving as England's chief scientific adviser (CSA) and chief medical officer (CMO) and asked what they thought.
Mr Cummings, his former chief adviser turned nemesis, made a series of claims in his witness statement handed to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
He said Mr Johnson also asked him to find a "dead cat" to get the coronavirus pandemic off the front pages of newspapers because he was "sick" of it.