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Former prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to apologise for “unquestionably” making mistakes in his handling of the pandemic during his appearance before the Covid Inquiry.
Mr Johnson will, however, argue that his controversial decisions ended up saving “tens of not hundreds of thousands of lives”.
The former prime minister is expected to be grilled on questions about the government’s decision-making during the pandemic when he appears before the inquiry in the coming week, in what would be marathon evidence sessions.
He would likely argue that, without restrictions in place, a considerable number of individuals would have experienced “miserable and unnecessary deaths”, some of them occurring in hospital car parks and corridors, with the healthcare system being inundated by the virus.
He will also speak about his vaccine programme and that the country emerged from the final lockdown before other economies.
The investigation thus far has portrayed a critical image of Mr Johnson’s Downing Street team, as clandestine WhatsApp messages expose the internal turmoil and discord behind the scenes.
His senior aide Dominic Cummings has emerged as a vocal adversary of Mr Johnson following their contentious parting. Mr Cummings described the former prime minister as the “trolley”, referring to his habit of changing his mind more often.
The former prime minister is expected to take counter accusations of him constantly changing his mind by underscoring the substantial volume of briefings he received, the rapid evolution of advice, and the enormity of the decisions he was compelled to make, those who helped prepare him for his appearance said, according to BBC.
But it is understood that his statement barely mentions Mr Cummings.
He will also defend the use of his colourful language during his tenure and taking more provocative position in private. He will argue that the strategy helped him get the best work out of his advisors and it would not have been correct for a prime minister to sit in silence when being briefed by experts.
“Ministers can argue for their briefs, as they should. So a health secretary will argue for public health. A chancellor will argue for the economy,” a source said.
“But there is only one person in the British system of government that has to arbitrate between the competing arguments and ultimately come to a decision, having made a call on the trade-offs.”
The person said: “There is only one guy in this country who can tell you what it is like to be prime minister in a pandemic. And one day there will be another one.”
Mr Johnson is poised to support the embattled former health secretary, Matt Hancock, despite criticisms from numerous inquiry witnesses who singled him out, crediting him for doing a “good job in very difficult circumstances”.
Mr Hancock has said in his written statement to the inquiry that “the then prime minister has apologised to me for appointing his chief adviser and for the damage he did to the response to Covid-19”.
Mr Johnson’s statement to the inquiry, which is said to be 200 pages long, has been already submitted.
Mr Johnson will be the only figure at the inquiry next week and is scheduled to sit from 10am to 4.30pm on Wednesday and Thursday.
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