Date set for Boris Johnson’s Covid Inquiry reckoning as he is grilled beneath oath
Boris Johnson shall be questioned beneath oath over his time in No10 as he’s hauled earlier than the Covid Inquiry subsequent week.
The former PM will give proof throughout two days on Wednesday and Thursday, earlier than Rishi Sunak seems the next week. Mr Johnson will face troublesome questions, together with over claims he stated he would quite “let the bodies pile high” than impose one other lockdown.
He beforehand denied to Parliament that he had made the comment, however his former chief-of-staff Lord Lister informed the Inquiry earlier this month that he heard Mr Johnson say it throughout a gathering in September 2020.
The former PM will even be questioned about bombshell diary entries written by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, who stated he was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going”. In December 2020, the top scientist recorded that Mr Johnson had told him that Conservative MPs think “the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature’s way of dealing with old people”, before adding: “I am not entirely sure I disagree with them.”
Other entries from Sir Patrick’s diaries include multiple examples of Mr Johnson being “bamboozled” or “confused” by science. In January 2020, he recorded that Mr Johnson had said: “My gut tells me this will be fine”. Dominic Cummings and former No10 director of communications Lee Cain both told the Inquiry earlier this month how Mr Johnson dithered over key decisions as he constantly changed his mind.
In a stark WhatsApp message a fortnight before the first lockdown, Mr Cummings told the then PM: “The overwhelming hazard right here is being late and the NHS implodes like zombie apocalypse movie – not being per week early.” Mr Cain said it was “the incorrect disaster for this Prime Minister’s skillset”, as he admitted Mr Johnson was a “challenging character to work with” as he “will oscillate” and “take a decision from the last person in the room”.
Mr Cummings conceded it was “fairly insane” many senior government officials including Mr Johnson went on holiday in February 2020 half term rather than help to prepare for the pandemic. The Inquiry has also heard claims Mr Johnson asked scientists if people could kill Covid by blowing a hairdryer up their nose.
When Mr Sunak appears in the following week he will face his own tricky questions, including over evidence heard by the Inquiry that suggested he believed ministers should “just let people die and that’s okay” during the pandemic.
