Boris Johnson’s COVID inquiry grilling: all the bombshell moments – POLITICO Europe

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LONDON Boris Johnsons in the dock.

The former prime minister, who led Britain through the coronavirus pandemic before his administration spectacularly collapsed in 2022, faces a two-day grilling at the countrys official inquiry into the pandemic.

Hes on oath to tell the truth, and is being pressed to give his account of what worked and, crucially, what didnt, as the British state struggled to respond to the deadly virus.

Johnsons already been accused by ex-aides and officials of constantly shifting position and struggling to understand key concepts as the virus raged but now he has his chance to push back. POLITICO is in the room and keeping track of all the key moments.

Johnson kicked off the two-day hearing by saying sorry but there was plenty of drama as he did so.

Moments after the former prime minister was sworn in at the Paddington inquiry center, he started to apologize for the pain, loss and suffering that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic.

But he was quickly interrupted by the inquirys chair Heather Hallett, who ordered protesters in the public gallery to sit down. After they refused to do so, four protesters who were quiet, but holding signs aimed at Johnson were removed.

Responding after the interruption, Johnson said he could understand the feelings of these victims and their families. He said his administration had done our level best, but accepted it could have done things differently.

The COVID inquiry has so far cast an unfavorable light on the culture in the No.10 Downing Street Johnson ran and Wednesday offered his first real chance to respond to a host of lurid headlines.

WhatsApp messages already provided to the inquiry have shown that senior figures particularly Johnsons then-top adviser Dominic Cummings used a host of curse words to describe colleagues they thought were useless.

But, pressed on the fruity exchanges, the former prime minister said a lot of the language of the style that you refer to is completely unknown to me.

He said he had apologized in detail to one particular person who suffered abuse in WhatsApp exchanges, but stressed that government has a lot of challenging, competing characters whose views about each other might not be fit to print, but do get an awful lot done.

Wednesdays grilling teased out some of the frustrations of top officials in Johnsons government including extraordinary exchanges between the countrys most senior civil servants about what it was like working in his No. 10.

In jaw-dropping July 2020 messages flashed up on the inquiry screen, just-departed Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill and his newly-minted successor Simon Case lamented their lot in life.

In one exchange, Case fumed about a fucking extraordinary turn of events and said he had exploded at Johnsons top aide Cummings for chatting to the press. I will not work in an environment where Dom is constantly briefing out his plans and screwing up the rest of us in the process, Case said.

Sedwill sarcastically quipped back: But Dom never talks to the press. He told me!

This place is just insane, Case vented. Zero discipline. And he said: At this rate, I will struggle to last six months.

The frank exchanges are a far cry from the buttoned-up British civil service of legend.

The slow dawning realization of COVIDs severity was a key feature of Wednesdays grilling.

Johnson stood by his decision not to chair meetings of the governments COBRA crisis committee at the start of the pandemic, having taken lots of flak for passing the baton to then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The former PM said he had been unaware of the looming seriousness of the virus, and that, from January to February 2020, COVID was like a cloud on the horizon no bigger than a mans hand, and you didnt know if it was going to turn into a typhoon or not.

Johnson argued that at this stage of the crisis, even the concept of a pandemic did not necessarily imply to the Whitehall [civil service] mind the kind of utter disaster that COVID was to become.

I look at how oblivious we were with horror now, Johnson later admitted as he was pressed on his early response. We should collectively have twigged much sooner, I should have twigged.

Central to Johnsons defense is his claim he was warned by top medical advisers against starting a lockdown too early in order to ensure maximum effectiveness, and to avoid behavioral fatigue among the British public.

When pushed by Keith, Johnson said he did not, however, press for an earlier lockdown. Candidly, I dont remember saying to myself: This is so bad. They must be wrong and perhaps with hindsight, I should have done, Johnson said.

He admitted that at the start of the pandemic, there had been a certain amount of incoherence in our thinking, with some parts of government presenting stark data while others took a more cautious approach.

Johnson faced a particularly tough time Wednesday afternoon when pressed on contemporaneous notes from his former private secretary Imran Shafi, who has already been quizzed by the inquiry.

Shafi recorded a meeting with Johnson, and noted down Johnsons view as: Were killing the patient to tackle the tumour why are we destroying economy for people who will die anyway soon. Johnson was also recorded as describing vulnerable people as bed blockers.

The former top Tory did not deny either claim, but said such words were an indication of the cruelty of the choice that we faced, and the appalling balancing act that I had to do throughout the pandemic.

This developing story is being updated

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Boris Johnson's COVID inquiry grilling: all the bombshell moments - POLITICO Europe