Former British Prime Minister apologized to families of Covid victims ‘for pain and loss’
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized on Wednesday to the families of Covid-19 victims for “pain, loss and suffering”during his hearing by the public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I am deeply sorry for the pain, loss and suffering” of these victims and their families, said Boris Johnson at the very start of his hearing, scheduled to last two days. Covid has killed more than 232,000 people in the UK.
Since the start of the hearings in June, these collaborators, including several advisers and scientists, have described an overwhelmed, indecisive Prime Minister, with little concern for the victims when the pandemic broke out in early 2020, and a divided and chaotic government.
“It was the wrong crisis for the Prime Minister’s skills”Lee Cain, former director of communications at Downing Street, told the commission at the end of October, recounting a Boris Johnson pushing back decisions and constantly changing his mind, depending on the last person who spoke to him.
On March 23, 2020, a first confinement was imposed on the British, followed by two others. Illegal parties in Downing Street during this period caused a scandal, and contributed to the downfall of Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign in July 2022.
Before the commission, which obtained tens of thousands of WhatsApp messages and numerous documents, certain former collaborators of Mr. Johnson also told a Prime Minister “blowing hot and cold”and which according to the Minister of Health at the time Matt Hancock confined too late.
“He is incapable of leading”Downing Street Secretary General Simon Case, the country’s highest civil servant, lamented again in WhatsApp messages in the fall of 2020. “It changes strategic direction every day”he despaired.
Martin Reynolds, Mr. Johnson’s former private secretary, also described a government with a dysfunctional and macho culture. Others denounced a culture “toxic”.