Rachel Johnson hits out at Covid Inquiry’s 'vindictive' findings after Boris accused of 'toxic culture'

Speaking on LBC, Rachel Johnson questioned the inquiry’s cost, its methodology and its focus on the former Prime Minister.

“It only took 800 pages. It only took a mere £200 million of our money. That is £160,000 a day,” she said.

She argued that a modelling graph led Baroness Hallett to conclude “that Boris Johnson's decision to lock down a week late caused 23,000 deaths,” adding that the figure was “based on data [...] supplied by the discredited former government scientist, Professor Neil Ferguson.”

Johnson said the conclusion was being received “as though my brother was the Grim Reaper himself and personally visited each bedside to deliver the mortal blow.”

This comes after the public Covid inquiry concluded Boris Johnson oversaw a ‘toxic and chaotic culture’ in government during the Covid pandemic, which prevented good decision making.

Baroness Heather Hallett, the inquiry chair, concluded that there was a lack of urgency in responding to the initial spread of the virus in 2020.

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She says the UK government, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all failed in taking timely and effective action.

It was a repeated case of “too little, too late”, she said, as her report claimed that if the first mandatory lockdown had been imposed a week earlier, it may not have been needed for as long.

It also points to modelling that suggests doing that would have saved 23,000 lives.

She described the report as “expensive, vindictive rubbish, crafted with a 2020 vision of perfect hindsight.”

Johnson repeated her previously stated view that lockdowns were not the right approach.

“We should have protected the vulnerable and the elderly. We should never have shuttered the economy and closed schools and playgrounds,” she said.

She called lockdown “a contender for the worst policy decision of the post war period.”

She also criticised the furlough scheme, saying: “Furlough hobbled the country for a generation. People still expect to be paid not to work.”

Responding to Baroness Hallett’s conclusion that the government acted “too little, too late,” she said: “In my view, it was too much, too soon.”

Johnson argued the inquiry’s focus on individual ministers overlooked wider issues around pandemic preparedness.

“This inquiry was always going to be about justifying the statist establishment… and to punish those who didn't think like that,” she said.

“Anyone with half a brain can see what's going on here. It's far easier to throw Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Matt Hancock under a bus than question the state's pandemic preparedness for the next one.”

She added: “The COVID inquiry is too quick to point the finger… but it didn't ask the right question that might equip politicians and scientists to confront the next pandemic.”

“And the only question worth asking is how will this inquiry help us in the future? That question not asked.”

Johnson also defended her brother, saying he has accepted responsibility for mistakes made during the pandemic.

“What hurts me on his behalf is that he's the first person to admit that he didn't get it all right… And he has apologised to those he let down at the COVID inquiry and elsewhere,” she said.

She disputed claims he did not take Covid seriously. “Those who said he didn't take Covid seriously can most respectfully speak. Sod off. Covid certainly took him seriously. He almost died from it.”

She added that she was joining others, including ministers past and present, who have defended him “against this hideous accusation that he personally caused the deaths of so many without once acknowledging how many lives were saved.”

Johnson also recounted an incident during the final time her brother saw their mother, where “a woman interrupted his last time with her to berate him,” claiming he had killed “what, 300,000 people.”

She said he “listened politely to her and he apologised.”