Following a flurry of criticism from his former aides, former UK prime leader Boris Johnson will be put through a rigorous grilling at a public inquiry on Wednesday on his government’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.
It is anticipated that Johnson, who has been criticized for being unsure of himself and lacking scientific knowledge, will acknowledge that he “unquestionably made mistakes” during his two days of questioning in London.
By mid-July 2021, the UK had one of the worst official per capita tallies of COVID-19 deaths among Western countries, with close to 130,000 deaths.
But Johnson appears ready to insist the decisions he took ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives, the Times newspaper reported, citing a written statement that has not yet been published.
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.
But he is anticipated to conclude that, all things considered, the government’s primary objective of making the “right decisions at the right times” to keep the state-run health sector from being overwhelmed was achieved.
He will also state that although the nation suffered a great deal of fatalities, it “ended the pandemic well down the global league table of excess mortality” and disregarded the most of the most worst forecasts.
The Times claims that Johnson, who resigned in part because to information about lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street, has gone over 6,000 pages of evidence and has had hours-long conversations with attorneys.
He should be prepared to answer questions regarding whether he believed the government was initially indifferent to the pandemic, even in light of data indicating a more proactive strategy was required.
He will also need to justify his timing of the first UK lockdown on March 23, 2020, which some senior ministers, officials and scientific advisers now believe was too late.
Johnson, who was treated in hospital intensive care for Covid early on in the pandemic, is expected to say that shutting down the country went against all his personal and political instincts.
However, “ancient and hallowed freedoms were in conflict with the health of the community,” thus he was at a loss for options.
Following the comments made by his former chief scientific officer, Patrick Vallance, that the former premier was often “bamboozled” by statistics, Johnson’s comprehension of expert advice is expected to come under close examination.
One could also raise criticisms regarding lockdowns and the death toll, citing Johnson’s suggestion that older people who had “had a good innings” should be allowed to pass away.
Reportedly, Johnson claimed he would prefer to “let the bodies pile high” than to implement another lockdown, although he has refuted this.
