BORIS Johnson has been labelled the "greatest charlatan of all time" by the former boss of one of Germany's biggest football clubs.
Uli Hoeneß, who played for West Germany in the 1970s and won a World Cup and European Championship, and spent decades at the head of FC Bayern Munich after playing for the club.
In an interview with German football magazine kicker, Hoeneß, 70, spoke about a range of subjects in his life including football, potential business ventures and the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
He criticised the level of infections of the virus in England, saying: "Why is the incidence so high in England? Every stadium is full, including the pubs, everything without masks."
In recent months, Germany saw its highest daily case numbers of the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic with upwards of 100,000 new cases in December.
However, the country of 83 million people has since seen those numbers fall significantly towards the end of 2021 with restrictions on mass gatherings introduced around New Year.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson reluctant to bring in Covid measures despite NHS 'critical incident'
UK Prime Minister Johnson took no such decision for England, opting to keep large venues open with a review due to take place on Wednesday, January 5.
Measures were extended to stop the spread of Omicron in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland such as limiting the number of people that can attend large events such as football matches.
Johnson's "Plan B" measures include advice to work from home, wear a mask on public transport and to take a Covid test before meeting with people.
England, a nation of 56m people, has reported daily cases well in excess of 100,000 for days at a time as New Year celebrations went ahead in much of the country.
Hoeneß did not have positive things to say for Johnson, adding: "And then the English have the problem that they have the greatest charlatan of all time as Prime Minister. He had Corona himself and has still not learned anything."
He also lumped Johnson in with two other international right-wing politicians who were less than happy to impose measures to stop the virus spreading, saying: "If you put Johnson, Bolsonaro and Trump in a sack and hit it, you always meet the right person."
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of failing to control the virus in his country where it has more than killed more than 600,000 people.
Former US president Donald Trump was also widely criticised for his handling of the pandemic including a hostility to masks and muddled messaging throughout his premiership.
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