Boris Johnson apologized for “the pain, loss, and suffering” caused by the COVID-19 epidemic on Wednesday, as he began testifying at a public inquiry into his government’s handling of the health disaster.
The former prime minister, who has been chastised by former aides for alleged indecisiveness and a lack of scientific understanding during the pandemic, will testify for two days.
Johnson, who was forced out of power last year after lockdown-violating parties conducted in Downing Street during the pandemic, admitted that “mistakes” were “unquestionably” committed.
“I understand the feeling of the victims and their families and I’m deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and the suffering to those victims and their families,” Johnson said.
Johnson, 59, was momentarily interrupted when a protester was told to leave the inquiry room for refusing to sit during the apology.
“Inevitably we got some things wrong,” Johnson continued, before adding “we did our level best” and that he took personal responsibility for decisions made.
The former premier arrived three hours early for the proceedings, with some speculating that he was eager to avoid relatives of the Covid bereaved who had gathered outside later in the morning.
By mid-July 2021, about 130,000 individuals had died from Covid in the UK, making it one of the worst official per capita deaths among Western nations.
Johnson will contend that the decisions he made saved hundreds of thousands of lives, according to the Times, citing a lengthy written statement due to be published later Wednesday.
‘Bamboozled’
The Times said he would argue he had a “basic confidence that things would turn out alright” on the “fallacious logic” that previous health threats had not proven as catastrophic as feared.
However, he is anticipated to claim that the administration achieved its major goal of keeping the state-run health sector from becoming overwhelmed by making the “right decisions at the right times.”
He would also claim that, despite the country’s high death toll, the epidemic “ended the pandemic well down the global league table of excess mortality.”
According to The Times, Johnson has evaluated 6,000 pages of evidence and spent hours speaking with attorneys after resigning in part because to revelations about lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
He can expect to be questioned about his belief that the government was initially complacent about the pandemic, despite evidence that a more proactive strategy was required.
He will also have to explain why he chose March 23, 2020, as the date for the first UK lockdown, which some top ministers, officials, and scientific advisers now say was too late.
Johnson, who was hospitalized for Covid early in the outbreak, is anticipated to declare that shutting down the country went against all of his personal and political instincts.
‘Low point’
But he had no choice since “ancient and hallowed freedoms were in conflict with the community’s health.”
Johnson’s grasp of expert advice is expected to be called into question when his former chief scientific officer, Patrick Vallance, stated that the former premier was frequently “bamboozled” by statistics.
Comments concerning lockdowns and the death toll, including an allegation that Johnson suggested allowing the elderly to die because they had “had a good innings,” may be made.
Johnson has denied saying he’d rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown.
When giving evidence at the inquiry, Johnson’s former senior adviser Dominic Cummings and communications chief Lee Cain both criticized their former boss.
Cummings described a “low point” in Johnson’s career as “a guy blowing a special hairdryer up his nose ‘to kill Covid’.”
Cain claimed that Covid was the “wrong crisis” for Johnson’s skill set, and that he became “exhausted” dealing with the problem due to his apparent hesitation and oscillation.
“He’s somebody who would often delay making decisions, would often seek counsel from multiple sources and change his mind on issues,” Cain said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was Johnson’s finance minister during the pandemic, is due to be questioned at the inquiry in the coming weeks.