Boris Johnson said why destroy economy for people who will die anyway, Covid inquiry hears – openDemocracy

Boris Johnson asked why are we destroying the economy for people who will die anyway soon in a March 2020 meeting with Rishi Sunak, the Covid inquiry was told today.

The claim, branded horrific by bereaved families, emerged from notebooks kept by Imran Shafi, Johnsons private secretary for public service.

Shafi was quizzed this afternoon by Hugo Keith KC. His notes from the same Cx [chancellor] bilat meeting record someone, also believed to be Johnson, as having said: We are killing the patient to tackle the tumour.

The inquiry, chaired by Heather Hallett and now into its second module, heard that Johnson had earlier said the biggest damage [from Covid will be] done by overreaction during a meeting on 28 February 2020 where lockdown restrictions were discussed.

The Covid-19 public inquiry is a historic chance to find out what really happened.

Shafi said under questioning that Johnson definitely did not want a lockdown in March 2020, despite being aware that the worst case scenario of hundreds of thousands of deaths was becoming increasingly likely. But he agreed by 2 March 2020 that control had been lost and that nothing short of a lockdown would suffice.

It would be another three weeks before a UK-wide lockdown would be announced.

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Boris Johnson said why destroy economy for people who will die anyway, Covid inquiry hears - openDemocracy