Boris Johnson: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2023
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid Inquiry always had the feeling of the end of season pre-Xmas finale. It began with protests from the bereaved - who Johnson had avoided by arriving early.
He offered his apology , insisted the UK death rate had been comparatively normal, and couldn’t quite explain what if anything he thought he’d got wrong.
Later- Suella in the Commons. What was that speech about?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:08.1 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:11.8 | We're going to spend most of today talking about Boris Johnson's appearance before the COVID inquiry. |
| 0:17.1 | And I think it's fair to say that the most challenging bit for him may very well have been his opening line. |
| 0:24.0 | I swear by Almighty God, that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. |
| 0:34.5 | I mean, it's not that Boris Johnson has ever had a complicated relationship with the truth, |
| 0:41.8 | the partial truth, and sometimes the downright disingenuous. |
| 0:46.5 | But Boris Johnson today faced an inquiry and a KC, Hugo Keith, who wanted to do his best to just test Boris Johnson's recollection of events. |
| 1:00.5 | And sometimes he didn't quite remember. Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:08.4 | The Newsagents. |
| 1:12.3 | It's John. It's Emily. It's John. |
| 1:12.9 | It's Emily. |
| 1:13.5 | It's Lewis. |
| 1:16.2 | And it's 1 o'clock lunchtime. |
| 1:18.0 | There is a break at the COVID inquiry. |
| 1:21.2 | And frankly, when we all came in this morning, we thought, well, there's only one show in town. |
| 1:24.1 | It is going to be Boris Johnson, virtually the whole episode. |
| 1:28.3 | Except that in an hour's time, Swellah Bravman is going to stand up in the comments to make her resignation statement, and we have no idea, whether she is just going to |
| 1:33.4 | reiterate her excoriating resignation letter, or she's going to out-excorriate it, if you can do |
| 1:41.3 | such a thing, because we have no idea. |
| 1:43.8 | It's hard to know how she goes over and above the last time, isn't it, |
| 1:46.3 | without just calling like Sunak really small or little or something. |
... |
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