Covid Inquiry latest: Boris Johnson gives evidence for a second day on Covid-19 pandemic
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For the second consecutive day, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry.
The ex-PM spent much of yesterday defending the actions he took in the early stages of the pandemic, from deciding when to go into lockdown in March to WhatsApp messages that were critical of the team around him. Johnson defended the toxic culture which appeared to form in Downing Street as "an atmosphere of challenge" and claimed he "thought about" getting rid of health secretary Matt Hancock.
Today (December 7) his evidence continues - follow the live stream above and the blog below for all the latest updates.
Key Events
- Today's evidence likely to include Partygate scandal
- Johnson has been defensive about his actions during Covid-19 pandemic
- Eat Out to Help Out "was safe" insists former Prime MInister
Dominic Cummings' Durham holiday
WhatsApp messages between Johnson and another adviser show the ex-PM calling Dominic Cummings a "liar" for not telling him about his trip to Durham.
"That's what I remember," Johnson said. "It was a bad moment and I won't pretend otherwise. I think that what happened thereafter was fascinating, in that people continued to want us to get on with the job of fixing the pandemic, in spite of what you say about the confidence factor."
Keith KC responded with data suggesting a "significant" drop in confidence and self-reported adherence to virus guidelines in the wake of the scandal.
Johnson defends Downing Street - but apologises for Partygate
He said: "I totally understand the feelings - what can I do but again apologise for mistakes we made in Number 10?
"The characterisation of what civil servants and advisers were doing has been a travesty of the truth. They thought they were working very hard - which they were - and I thought that what we were doing was within the rules.
"That is in no way an attempt to mitigate the offence that has been caused and I understand and apologise for the offence that has been caused. If I had my time again of course I would have done things differently."
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