Boris Johnson at the Covid inquiry: Key takeaways from WhatsApps to Hancock

The former prime minister has refused to criticise those working alongside him during the pandemic, insisting he takes ‘personal responsibility for all the decisions’ his government made

Boris Johnson has finished a marathon evidence session from 10.00am until 4.30pm at the Covid inquiry.

The former prime minister appeared remarkably composed and refused to criticise those working alongside him during the pandemic, insisting he takes “personal responsibility for all the decisions” his government made.

But, while his first evidence session saw less mud-slinging than others’, notably Dominic Cummings, there have still been several striking revelations.

As Mr Johnson prepares for a second marathon day at the inquiry tomorrow, here are the key things we have learned from the former PM so far:

Mr Johnson’s 5,000 missing WhatsApps

About 5,000 WhatsApp messages on Boris Johnson’s phone from January 30, 2020 to June 2020 were unavailable to the inquiry.

Mr Johnson, somewhat remarkably, said: "I don’t know the exact reason, but it looks as though it’s something to do with the app going down and then coming up again, but somehow automatically erasing all the things between that date when it went down and the moment when it was last backed up."

He was asked by inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC about a factory reset that was carried out on the phone, but appeared not to know what one was, replying: “A factory reset?”

Boris Johnson considered sacking Matt Hancock over Covid chaos

Boris Johnson confirmed he considered sacking the former health secretary, having repeatedly been urged to do so by top officials who blamed him for Covid chaos.

Mr Johnson said it was “nonsense” he kept Mr Hancock in post as an eventual sacrifice for the Covid inquiry, and said he thought he had “done a good job in very difficult circumstances”.

But he admitted he thought about getting rid of him, deciding not to eventually as it was unclear he would be “trading up” with his replacement.

Boris Johnson called long-Covid “b******s”

Boris Johnson apologised for calling long-Covid “b******s” and comparing it to Gulf War syndrome.

He admitted the remarks would have “caused hurt and offence to huge numbers of people who do indeed suffer” from the condition.

And he insisted that rather than mocking or down-playing long-Covid, he simply wanted to determine “where was the line” on whether people did or did not have it.

The ex-PM accepts he “unquestionably made mistakes”

Boris Johnson opened his evidence with an apology to those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, admitting he “unquestionably” made mistakes.

But, as Mr Johnson was saying sorry “for the loss, pain and suffering”, he was interrupted by four protesters who had to be booted out of the hearing room.

The protesters were unconvinced by Mr Johnson, saying they “didn’t want his apology”.

They said they stood up as he began apologising to hold up signs that read: "The Dead can’t hear your apologies.’

Rishi Sunak was ‘frustrated by over-compliance’ with Covid measures

Rishi Sunak was “frustrated” by what he saw as “over-compliance” with the government’s stay at home messaging during the pandemic.

The prime minister’s witness statement showed he believed it was likely the government encouraging people to work from home “exacerbated the economic impact of the lockdown”.

Prime minister was not keen on reading Sage minutes

Boris Johnson admitted that he had only read the minutes of Sage meetings “once or twice” during the pandemic.

He said he instead asked Sir Patrick Vallance and Sir Chris Whitty to sum them up.

His cabinet pushed back on lockdown measures

Boris Johnson claimed his cabinet was more reluctant “on the whole” to impose measures to curtail the pandemic than he was.

“There were some really excellent and candid discussions about the trade offs,” Mr Johnson said.

But he added: “I think it would be fair to say that the cabinet was on the whole more reluctant to impose NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) than I was.”

Pandemic meetings were ‘too male dominated’

Boris Johnson admitted that meetings held during the pandemic were “too male dominated”, a criticism which has been heard frequently during the inquiry.

He said he tried to rectify the problem by recruiting women, including a former colleague from City Hall when he was London mayor.

He has apologised to Helen MacNamara

Boris Johnson revealed that he had personally apologised to the former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara, who was referred to as a “c***” by his top aide Dominic Cummings.

The inquiry previously saw WhatsApp messages from Mr Cummings in which he talked about “dodging stilettos from that c**t”, referring to Ms MacNamara.

“I’ve apologised to one particular person who suffered abuse in one of those publicised WhatsApp exchanges,” Mr Johnson revealed.

But he said some of the vulgar language used in government WhatsApp groups seen by the inquiry was “completely unknown” to him.

Boris Johnson thought Matt Hancock had ‘defects’, but backed him overall

Boris Johnson said Matt Hancock had “defects” as health secretary, but that Dominic Cummings’s summary of him as useless was “wrong”.

Mr Johnson defended his former health secretary, saying: “I thought that he was doing his best in very difficult circumstances and I thought he was a good communicator.”

The government was focused on comms, not action

A WhatsApp exchange seen by the inquiry revealed Boris Johnson and his two top advisers were focused on “comms” as Covid struck in February 2020.

Mr Keith pressed the former PM on why their focus was communications, and not “steps to deal with infection control”.

Mr Johnson was ‘rattled’ by scenes in Italy, but thought the biggest damage of Covid would be overreacting

Boris Johnson said he was “rattled” by the scenes unfolding in Italy in the early stages of the pandemic, and admitted he should have “twigged” what was happening sooner.

But a set of notes seen by the inquiry shortly after showed that Mr Johnson was concerned the “biggest damage” of Covid would be “done by overreacting”.

Mr Johnson was not on holiday in February 2020

The inquiry accepted Mr Johnson’s defence that he was not in fact on holiday in February 2020, an accusation levelled by Dominic Cummings.

The former PM said he was “working throughout the period and the tempo did increase”.

Inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC said “nobody is suggesting you put your feet up at Chevening”.

Matt Hancock’s lockdown warning call did not happen, as far as Boris Johnson remembers

Boris Johnson told the inquiry he did not remember a call which Matt Hancock claims he made to warn the prime minister of the need to impose a lockdown.

The former health secretary told the Covid inquiry he rang Mr Johnson on March 13, 2020, telling him about the need to enter lockdown.

Inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC was sceptical the call took place, given it had not been mentioned in Mr Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries book. And, asked about it on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said he could not remember the call.

Boris Johnson thinks Cheltenham should have been cancelled

The ex-PM said that in hindsight the Cheltenham Festival and an Atletico Madrid football game at the beginning of March 2020 should have been cancelled.

But he said the decision to go ahead with the mass gatherings was based on a fear of instead pushing people toward pubs and other indoor venues “where transmission would have been faster”.

The former PM regretted shaking hands on his hospital visit

Boris Johnson has said that the hospital visit on which he boasted about shaking hands “with everyone” was a mistake.

“I shouldn’t have done that in retrospect and I should have been more precautionary,” he told the Covid inquiry.

“But I wanted to be encouraging to people,” he added.

Mr Johnson said he had not been told about the contents of a government paper warning against greetings such as shaking hands.

One person was impressed by Mr Johnson’s day one testimony.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Nadine Dorries, the former PM’s most staunch backer, said it is now “clear who was the grown up in the room”.

The scores of bereaved family members gathered outside the inquiry building clearly take a different view.