Families who lost loved ones during the pandemic have reacted with fury after Boris Johnson used his newspaper column to attack the Covid-19 public inquiry and refuse an apology for the thousands of deaths linked to his government's delays.
An Attack 'Beyond Contempt'
The disgraced former prime minister has been accused of being 'beyond contempt' by the Covid Bereaved Families group for his comments. In his weekly column for the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson lampooned those 'still wrangling on' about pandemic deaths and launched a blistering assault on the inquiry he himself established.
This response comes after the official report, chaired by former Appeal Court judge Baroness Heather Hallett, damned the 'toxic and chaotic' culture within Downing Street under his leadership. The inquiry's central conclusion was that unnecessary delays in locking down caused an extra 23,000 deaths.
Johnson's Astonishing Column
After an initial period of silence following the report's publication, Mr Johnson broke his silence with an astonishing rant. He questioned whether the inquiry's participants had 'lost their minds' and accused Baroness Hallett of 'breath taking inconsistency' and being 'hopelessly incoherent'.
He made it clear that his biggest regret was locking down the country at all, suggesting the rest of the world now believes lockdowns were 'wildly overdone'. He also claimed the figure of 23,000 extra deaths, originally calculated by Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, was 'speculative and unsubstantiated'.
In his defence, Mr Johnson noted that while the UK entered a full lockdown on 23 March 2020, his government had begun introducing measures from 12 March.
Families Consider Legal Action and Consequences
The families of those who died have been left horrified by the lack of contrition from the former prime minister. A spokesman for the Covid Bereaved Families group stated that instead of showing regret, Mr Johnson is 'using a newspaper column to do what he couldn't do under oath'.
The spokesman added: 'The truth, which Mr Johnson has never had a close relationship with, is now clear. He was responsible for thousands of avoidable deaths.' The group is now calling for Mr Johnson to lose all of his ex-PM privileges and have confirmed they are considering taking legal action against him.
The former prime minister's attack, delivered from the safety of a newspaper column rather than the witness stand, has solidified the view among campaigners that he remains unwilling to confront the devastating consequences of his government's actions during a national crisis.
