“She was just the loveliest person in the world and she didn’t deserve it.”
Radio host James O’Brien was moved to tears during his show on Thursday after taking a call from a bereaved father who blamed Boris Johnson and his government for being the reason “why my daughter is dead.”
As O’Brien took calls from listeners on his LBC show to discuss the aftermath of Dominic Cummings’ appearance before a cross-party committee on Wednesday, listener John called in and explained to the host that, in his search for answers in how his daughter and the family members of so many others had been allowed to die, he had watched the whole nine hours of evidence that Cummings gave.
John lost his daughter in March 2020, and had called up the show before, with O’Brien already aware of his loss from previous times they had spoken.
In an emotional call, O’Brien fought back tears to tell John: “I bet you were a brilliant dad.”
John replied: “She was 56 years old, she was a bundle of fun. I called her Little Chief and she called me Big Chief… she was just the loveliest person in the world and she didn’t deserve it.
“None of these people deserved it. At a time of crisis when we desperately needed a really serious politician in charge of Downing Street, we sadly finished up with a charlatan and a narcissist and a liar and that’s why my daughter is dead.”
During his appearance before MPs, Cummings launched a scathing attack on Johnson’s government, claiming that it had been rife with incompetence and lack of preparedness and that as a result tens of thousands of people had died unnecessarily.
John told O’Brien: “I feel for all of these families, every single family, my heart goes out to them and when I see it every day and people turn around and say it’s only nine dead today.
“That’s somebody’s loved one – it’s not only two, it’s not only nine, it’s not only one. It’s somebody’s loved one that’s died.
“People are in pain and people should remember that the next time they go to put their cross in a box in a polling station, because this man isn’t fit to run the country.”
Afterwards the radio host admitted that the call “completely broke” him.
This call completely broke me. I will remember John – and Susie – as long as I live. https://t.co/0C6H4iVi0F
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) May 27, 2021
Ultimately, like so many thousands of others like him, John simply wanted to know what the truth was at Downing Street, as the pandemic took grip. His desire was simple: for an enquiry to happen immediately.
“The one thing that came out of yesterday,” he said, “… more than anything else is the absolute need for an inquiry now, not in a year’s time… because at the end of the day one thing we all know in our hearts is that the lunatics are running the asylum at the moment.
“The fact of the matter is we could have another bloody pandemic at the end of this month, we can’t afford to wait another year.”
"We sadly got a PM who was a charlatan, a narcissist and a liar, and that's why my daughter is dead."
James O'Brien is moved to tears by grieving father John who urges people to remember bereaved families when casting their next vote.@mrjamesob pic.twitter.com/otZn2WEhA4
— LBC (@LBC) May 27, 2021
A timely reminder that every single one of the deaths we hear on the news each day is an actual person, a family member, a friend, and not just a number. This should never be forgotten, no matter your politics.
