UK: Boris Johnson Faces COVID Inquiry

Facts

• Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson began his two-day COVID inquiry on Wednesday by apologizing for the 'pain, loss, and suffering.' He was soon interrupted by the inquiry's chair, Heather Hallett, who ordered protesters in the gallery to sit down, after which four of them held up signs before they were removed. Afterward, Johnson said he could 'understand' the victims, that he did his 'level best,' and acknowledged that things could have been done 'differently.'¹
• When asked about his former senior aides claiming he was 'bamboozled' by the science, Johnson said such criticism 'is wholly to be expected.' Johnson became the first sitting Prime Minister to receive a fine from the police after he and members of his team were caught breaking their own COVID lockdown rules.²
• Johnson also apologized to former senior civil servant Helen MacNamara for not 'calling out' disparaging remarks about her, though he did stand by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock despite his 'defects.' The former Prime Minister also apologized for shaking hands with COVID patients in March 2020 and for not canceling sporting events that same month.³
• Other regrets he had included the timeline of his lockdowns, the circulation of the virus in the residential care sector, and the 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme. However, Johnson did place some blame on the different messaging coming from the various governments within the UK, also arguing that his administration did its 'best at the time, given what we knew, given the information I had available to me at the time...'⁴
• The former Prime Minister also said he regretted the toxic reputation of his team's culture — specifically one individual 'who suffered abuse' during WhatsApp exchanges seen by the inquiry — and said the 'gender balance' of his team could have been better. He also admitted to relying on the summaries of information from medical experts rather than reading the eight or nine-page briefings provided to him.⁵
• Johnson acknowledged that reading all the minutes from the hundreds of meetings concerning the pandemic would have been better, instead of the one or two he looked over. He did, however, defend not leading five cabinet meetings in early 2020 and denied taking a 'long holiday' early on in the pandemic.⁶

Sources: ¹Politico, ²CNN, ³BBC News, ⁴Sky News, ⁵The Times and ⁶Independent.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by The Guardian. The disgraced former Prime Minister was as wishy-washy during this hearing as he was in office. He failed to protect his nation from COVID because, unlike even the most controversial Prime Ministers of the past, Johnson had no vision for the country other than putting himself in charge of it. His indifference to governing style and policy resulted in his countless fatal failures — ranging from his absence from cabinet meetings in February 2020 to the continual indecisiveness on every policy until he left office.
• Right narrative, as provided by The Telegraph. Johnson's liberal critics are not wrong about his willingness to flip-flop on policy — what they don't inform you, however, is that the direction he flip-flopped was consistently moving in favor of their failed lockdown policies. After Johnson rightly rejected calls for lockdowns in early 2020, the backlash from critics scared him into a 180-degree turn, thus imposing the strictest lockdowns possible. All this inquiry cares about is ensuring the country's future pandemic responses are draconian, so they'll drag Johnson through the mud until the public agrees with them.

Predictions