Boris Johnson Covid inquiry – live: ‘Dr Death’ Rishi Sunak to face next grilling as former PM finishes up

Boris Johnson lashed out at some of the “absolutely absurd” characterisations of the partygate debacle as he completed two days of at-times combative and emotional evidence to the Covid-19 Inquiry.

The former prime minister insisted on Thursday he was not “reconciled” to Covid deaths or believed it necessary to “let it rip” in the autumn of 2020.

On the final day of his highly-anticipated appearance, he said he was “perplexed” at claims from top scientists that ministers failed to consult them on Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Much of the questioning on Thursday focused on the sequence of decision-making leading to the second national lockdown and later restrictions, while also touching on revelations of rule-breaking inside Number 10.

Mr Johnson appeared to become emotional during some of the discussions as he rejected suggestions he did not care about the suffering of the public and discussed his own admittance to intensive care.

It came as inquiry lead counsel Hugo Keith KC pressed Mr Johnson about the lockdown-breaching parties that were held in Downing Street and the impact on public confidence.

The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul explains all you need to know as Boris Johnson faces the Covid inquiry.

It comes after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced two days of questioning at the Covid inquiry – with answers that have illicited more questions from our readers.

In comments that will infuriate families bereaved during the Covid pandemic, the former prime minister said the representation of repeated gatherings during the pandemic was “absolutely absurd”.

Boris Johnson said it is “very, very important” to get the answers to how the virus originated at the end of giving two days of evidence at the UK Covid-19 inquiry.

The former prime minister said valuable testimony had been given to the inquiry, and that he hoped it would help to bring the issues of health and social care together.

Baroness Heather Hallett, chairwoman of the inquiry, thanked Mr Johnson for his evidence, saying: “Thank you very much indeed Mr Johnson, I know how difficult it must be to have two days giving evidence.”

Mr Johnson replied: “No. I am rather sad that it’s over. I may not see you again, so I just wanted to say one thing, which is that I do think all the testimony and the evidence is incredibly valuable.”

He added: “The issues of health and social care are absolutely critical, and the government that I led was embarked on a big programme to try and bring them together. I think the fact that we had those delayed discharge patients was very, very difficult in the NHS. I hope that this inquiry will give a kick to the powers that be to make sure that we really address that.”

Making a “final point”, Mr Johnson concluded: “I know it’s outside your scope, but I do think that the British public and future governments will need to be elucidated about exactly how this thing originated.

“I don’t think the inquiry can look into it yourselves, but some sort of prod to the world to get the answer to the real origins of Covid, I think is going to be very, very important.”

Boris Johnson spent much of the day apologising again, but the one time he actually looked embarrassed was when it was revealed he told a meeting: “F*** YOU Daily Mail”. Never mind 220,000 excess deaths, what would he tell the editor of his tabloid employer?

“I am sorry to have said this about the Daily Mail,” croaked the overpaid columnist when his words appeared on the big screen. It was his umpteenth saying of sorry, but this time, as the movies say, he meant it.

You knew this was going to be a tough day for Johnson because he started being nice to “hard worker” Matt Hancock. If a drowning man clutches at Hancock, he must be desperate. The former health secretary is more of a dead weight than a lifebelt these days but, crucially for Boris’s legal case, he had backed the PM on rejecting a circuit breaker lockdown in October 2020, perhaps one of the worst blunders of the pandemic.