It's now widely accepted that the UK could have handled coronavirus better.

On June the 30th, Boris Johnson finally admitted that not everything had gone to plan.

And I know that there are plenty of things that people will say, and we got wrong.

And of course there must be time to learn the lessons and we will. Welcome to Payne's politics,

you're a central insider guide to what's happening in British politics

from the Financial Times, with me Sebastian Payne.

In this episode, our first in-depth interview special, I'll be speaking with Jeremy Hunt,

former health secretary from 2012 to 2018, about why the UK was not better prepared for a pandemic like COVID-19 and what

lessons need to be learned from the government's response so far.

I was one of the people who was calling for us to go into lockdown earlier than we did.

And at the time we were being told that the infection rate was doubling every five to six days.

It now looks like it was actually doubling faster than that every three to four days.

But even...

Last year, Mr Hunt unsuccessfully challenged Mr Johnson for the Tory party leadership.

He's currently chair of the House of Commons Health Select Committee and is one of the most

influential voices in the debate around coronavirus. Like many MPs, he has had to adapt from

conducting parliamentary business from home,

although when he spoke to us, he managed to make it into his House of Commons office.

Jeremy, thank you very much for joining us on Payne's politics.

It's a pleasure, sir.

Jeremy Hunt, two years ago you were sitting in the position where

Matt Hancock is today, at the top of the Department for Health

...