Johnson says Covid inquiry that criticised chaos in his government ‘muddled’

Boris Johnson has dismissed the inquiry report that found chaos in his government, and that a failure to take Covid-19 seriously cost 23,000 lives in the pandemic’s first wave, as “muddled”.

The Covid inquiry found that Mr Johnson presided over a “toxic and chaotic” Downing Street culture that undermined efforts to deal with the pandemic.

Baroness Heather Hallett’s report on the government response to Covid accused Mr Johnson of being too “optimistic” in his outlook in the early months of 2020.

The former prime minister, who set up the inquiry, said the report should be filed “vertically” and that those involved in the pandemic response at the time were “doing our level best”.

The Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett, has today published her second report.

Barone