Covid inquiry – live: Boris Johnson to be grilled over lockdown delay

Security is being beefed up at the Covid inquiry as the former PM finally faces grilling on decisions he made during pandemic later this morning.

Adam Forrest The Independent’s Political Correspondent reports:

Labour frontbencher Nick Thomas-Symonds said it was “typical and will be deeply disappointing to families who have lost loved ones and deserve nothing less than full disclosure”.

Boris Johnson has denied deleting WhatsApp messages after it emerged that the former prime minister has not been able to provide the Covid-19 inquiry with any communications from February to June 2020.

It comes after the Times newspaper reported that Mr Johnson, who will begin two days of questioning at the inquiry on Wednesday, has told Lady Hallet’s probe that technical experts have not been able to retrieve WhatsApp messages between January 31 and June 7 – a time period spanning the early days of the pandemic and most of the first lockdown.

Technical experts had been trying to recover messages from his old mobile phone in order to hand them over to the inquiry. Mr Johnson was originally told to stop using the device over security concerns after it emerged his number had been online for years.

A spokesman for the former prime minister said: “Boris Johnson has fully cooperated with the Inquiry’s disclosure process and has submitted hundreds of pages of material

“He has not deleted any messages.

“The Times report refers to a technical issue in recovery of material that is for the technical team to address.”

Mr Johnson was advised to stop using the phone and not access it again on security grounds while serving as prime minister in May 2021.

It had emerged his number had been freely available online for 15 years.

The device he used during crucial periods of the coronavirus pandemic was believed to contain messages relating to the ordering of the lockdowns in 2020.

Johnson will put up a beguiling performance, we can be sure, writes his biographer, Anthony Seldon.

Expect some carefully calculated contrition, wit and self-deprecation – and a forensic response prepared by some of the best lawyers in the land.

The Times is reporting that Boris Johnson has told the inquiry that experts were unable to retrieve any of his WhatApp messages from January 31 to June 7.

“The technical team has been unable to determine the cause of this,” he has told the inquiry denying he deleted them.

Johnson said that the content of the deleted messages which cover the run up to the first lockdown was likely to have been provided by others.

The Independent reported how a series of scathing WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson’s top team have accused the former prime minister of making it “impossible” to tackle Covid, as he created chaos and changed direction “every day”.

The extraordinary messages sent between the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case reveal the strong disquiet among Mr Johnson’s advisers, with Mr Case, the cabinet secretary and top civil servant, at one point declaring: “I am at the end of my tether.”

Boris Johnson could be grilled on his decision to take a 10-day holiday in February 2020, when Covid cases had been confirmed in the UK.

The inquiry has already heard that the former prime minister was not updated on the virus, missing two COBRA meetings in that period.

Dominic Cummings has said Boris was focussed on writing a book about Shakespeare – something Mr Johnson has denied – and finalising divorce and engagement to Carrie.

He is also likely to be asked if he really said he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than go back into a lockdown in autumn 2020. He has always denied this.

The former prime minister is expected to admit his government made some mistakes in its response to the deadly virus but will argue that his decisions ultimately saved lives.

Mr Johnson will also insist that he followed the advice of scientists and did not lock down the country more quickly because herd immunity was initially favoured, the Telegraph reported.

His style of government at the height of the crisis has been sharply criticised by former colleagues, not least his ex-chief adviser turned nemesis Dominic Cummings.

Mr Cummings claimed Mr Johnson asked scientists whether Covid could be destroyed by blowing a “special hair dryer” up noses.

He also alleged that Mr Johnson said he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than hit the economy with further restrictions – a claim supported by former senior aide Lord Udny-Lister, but which Mr Johnson previously denied.

Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said the former Prime Minister will appear at the inquiry tomorrow with his claim that “he got the big calls right already entirely debunked”.

He said: “As the inquiry has heard, when news of the pandemic first struck, Johnson treated it all like it was a joke and as cases began to rise he delayed locking down, causing thousands of unnecessary deaths, such as my Dad’s.

“Even worse, when the second wave came around he repeated all of the same mistakes, leading to even more people dying than in the first wave.

“He’s even argued that the NHS ‘was never overwhelmed’. As the many thousands of bereaved families whose loved one were unable to reach a hospital or weren’t able to be treated once they were there will attest to, this is another obvious lie.

“We hope to see Johnson challenged on these clear falsehoods when he appears in front of the inquiry he desperately tried to avoid having tomorrow.”

The public inquiry’s security has been stepped up for Mr Johnson’s appearance in west London, with dozens of bereaved family members from all over Britain expected to hold a defiant vigil as he turns up to give evidence.