Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson could face legal action over the failures identified during the pandemic, which an official inquiry found may have resulted in up to 23,000 excess deaths. Following the publication of the damning report by Baroness Heather Hallett, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group demanded that Johnson be banned from public life, asserting that a lockdown implemented just one week earlier could have saved thousands of lives. The inquiry also painted a critical picture of the "culture at the heart of Number 10," which contributed significantly to the government’s pandemic failings, reports The WP Times with reference to The Independent.
The group representing bereaved families described the former prime minister’s continued refusal to comment on the report, which was published on Thursday, as "deafening." They stated that they were not seeking merely an apology, but rather demanding concrete consequences. The families declared that Johnson’s actions amounted to "one of the gravest betrayals of the British public in modern history" and confirmed their intent to pursue all available legal options to hold him personally accountable for the decisions made during the crisis. The Independent understands that the campaign group is currently weighing options regarding civil claims for damages or potentially initiating a private prosecution.
Meanwhile, senior Conservative figures have engaged in efforts to downplay or discredit some of the report’s most critical findings. Lord Michael Gove, who served as a cabinet minister throughout the pandemic, defended the "toxic" atmosphere within Johnson's No 10 by arguing that the "business of government during a crisis can't be carried on in the manner of a Jane Austen novel." While Gove admitted that "mistakes" were made and that some internal clashes were "far from ideal," he denied that the toxic culture directly led to preventable deaths.
Former health minister and close Johnson ally, Nadine Dorries (who has since defected to Reform UK), strongly rejected the inquiry’s conclusions, labeling the report as "sensationalist." She told Times Radio that she simply did "not recognise the picture she paints as to the political management of Covid at the time," defending the hard work of those involved. Similarly, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, criticized Baroness Hallett, a former Court of Appeal judge, accusing her of attempting to "rewrite history" and questioning the evidence supporting the claim that 23,000 deaths were caused by the week's delay in lockdown measures. The inquiry ultimately concluded that a total lockdown could have been avoided in 2020 if restrictions had been introduced much sooner, highlighting chaotic decision-making at the core of the government.
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