Boris Johnson at the COVID Inquiry: part one
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
He began by apologising for the pain and suffering of victims and their families during the pandemic and admitted that "unquestionably" mistakes were made by his government.
But the King’s Counsel’s attempt to get square answers from him about vanished WhatsApp messages, the ‘toxic’ culture inside cabinet and the government’s stalled reaction time wasn’t so straight forward.
Today, Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby joins Niall Paterson to unpack the first of two days of questioning in the search for answers about Boris Johnson’s leadership during the pandemic.
Podcast producer: Alex Edden
Interviews producer: Melissa Tutesigensi
Promotion producer: David Chipakupaku
Editor: Philly Beaumont
Transcript
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| 1:00.0 | I'm Neil Patterson. Welcome back to the Sky News Daily, where, look, unless you've been living in a bunker with no access to Wi-Fi, you will have realised that today was the day that Boris Johnson appeared in front of the COVID inquiry. |
| 1:13.4 | The man who, of course, is ultimately responsible for all of the decisions that the government took during that period. |
| 1:20.5 | In a second, we'll be speaking to our political editor, Beth Rigby. |
| 1:23.4 | But of course, the presence of Boris Johnson at the inquiry today was always going to provoke a reaction from the families of those who lost their lives to COVID. |
| 1:31.8 | Many were outside, many of them were in the room. |
| 1:34.4 | Indeed, some of them interrupted the former Prime Minister as he was once again apologising, saying sorry for the suffering that many, many people have endured. |
| 1:44.8 | Before we speak to Beth, let's just have a quick listen to Mr. Johnson. |
| 1:48.5 | Can I just say how glad I am to be at this inquiry |
| 1:52.6 | and how sorry I am for the pain and the loss and the suffering of the COVID victims. |
| 2:02.6 | Please sit down. |
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