Boris Johnson defended controversial schemes designed to kickstart the economy during the pandemic as he faced a second day of questioning at the Covid-19 Inquiry on Thursday.
The former prime minister denied claims that the Government’s medical experts were not consulted on “Eat Out to Help Out”, which encouraged people to dine together in restaurants in August 2020 when the country came out of its first lockdown.
The scheme, launched by the then chancellor Rishi Sunak, was blamed for increasing the spread of the virus before winter and putting added pressure on the NHS.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser at the time, and the Government’s chief medical adviser Sir Chris Whitt, have previously told the inquiry they were not consulted about the scheme before it was launched.
But Mr Johnson said it was “pretty well publicised” and he is “fairly confident” it must have been discussed in meetings in which they were present.
He added he was “not confident that there is substantial evidence” that Eat Out to Help Out led to a rise in cases, adding: “If it was safe to open hospitality then it must be safe for people to go to hospitality.”
It comes as it was confirmed that Mr Sunak will be questioned by the inquiry on Monday.
The Prime Minister is likely to face a grilling about the impact of his policies, including Eat Out to Help Out. Government advisers referred to Mr Sunak as “Dr Death” because of their concerns.
The conversation between epidemiologist Professor John Edmunds and Professor Dame Angela McLean — now chief scientific adviser to the Government — took place during a meeting in September 2020.
Dame Angela messaged Professor Edmunds, referring to “Dr Death the Chancellor”, the inquiry was told.
Professor Edmunds said in an earlier hearing the reference could have been about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which had been deployed a month earlier in a bid to kickstart the restaurant industry following lockdown.
It comes after Mr Johnson was yesterday booed as he left Dorland House in Paddington following his first day of evidence.
Protesters who lost family members and loved ones to the virus had gathered outside the inquiry since dawn.
Mr Johnson said: “I understand the feelings of these victims and their families and I am deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and suffering of those victims.”
He was also grilled about 5,000 WhatsApp messages on his mobile phone from the beginning of the pandemic which have gone missing. Mr Johnson blamed technical issues with the app for them disappearing.
During the hearing he also admitted he should have “twigged much sooner” that Covid was going to be a major public health emergency when the pandemic took hold in Italy in February 2020.
But he defended his management of the pandemic and rejected accusations that he had shown poor leadership by dithering over whether to back tough restrictions in the early months of 2020.
Downing Street operations was “internecine warfare”, he said and it was “better on the whole for the country to have a disputatious culture in No 10”.
