Former UK PM Boris Johnson apologises to families for ‘pain and loss’ at Covid inquiry, defends health record
- Johnson resigned after a series of scandals, including reports he was at gatherings in Downing Street when most people in the UK were forced to stay home
- The inquiry has already heard damaging testimony about Johnson’s handling of the crisis, including claims of government incompetence
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he was deeply sorry for the loss of life during the Covid-19 pandemic as he appeared as a witness at the official inquiry into Britain’s handling of the pandemic.
Johnson said at the start of the hearing how glad he was to give evidence and how sorry he was for the suffering of victims and their families, but also defended his health record.
The hearing was disrupted by a protester, who was asked to leave by the inquiry’s chairwoman.
“Can I say that I understand the feelings of the victims and their families, and I am deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and the suffering of those victims and their families,” Johnson said.
Four people stood up in court as he spoke, holding signs saying: “The Dead can’t hear your apologies,” before being escorted out by security staff.
“Inevitably, in the course of trying to handle a very, very difficult pandemic in which we had to balance appalling harms on either side of the decision, we may have made mistakes,” Johnson said.
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Boris Johnson’s rise to power and what led to his downfall as UK prime minister
“Inevitably, we got some things wrong. I think we were doing our best at the time.”
Johnson, prime minister for three years between 2019 and 2022, resigned in disgrace after a series of scandals including reports that he, and other officials, had been present at alcohol-fuelled gatherings in Downing Street during 2020 and 2021 when most people in Britain were forced to stay at home.
The inquiry has already heard damaging testimony about Johnson’s handling of the crisis, including claims of government incompetence, back-stabbing and misogyny, his reluctance to lock down, and how he was confused by the science.
Former Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said Johnson was “bamboozled” by science. In diaries that have been seen as evidence, Vallance also said Johnson was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate.”
Former adviser Dominic Cummings, now a fierce opponent of Johnson, said the then-prime minister asked scientists whether blowing a hair dryer up his nose could kill the virus.
Johnson faces two days of questioning in what are likely to be the most emotionally charged sessions of the official investigation so far into why Britain ended up with one of the world’s highest death tolls during the pandemic.
He arrived at the inquiry in the dark, more than three hours before the hearing was due to start, avoiding the families of some of those who died from Covid-19. Families had wanted to confront Johnson over claims that he told colleagues he would prefer to see people die in large numbers than order a second lockdown.
Speaking outside the inquiry, families and lawyers of people who lost their lives during the pandemic criticised Johnson and held up photographs of relatives killed by the virus.
Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing Scottish bereaved Covid-19 families, said Johnson oversaw “a deadly culture of impunity, incompetence” and treating people like “toxic waste”.
The inquiry is examining the government’s response to the pandemic.
The UK has one of the highest Covid-19 death tolls in Europe, with the virus recorded as a cause of death for more than 232,000 people.
