THE SHAMING OF JOHNSON:HIS EVIDENCE AT INQUIRY- ABJECT FAILURE

Bereaved families' fury as ex-PM says sorry for pain and loss and admits 'not twigging the Covid danger sooner, dodging crucial meetings, resisting first lockdown, shaking hands in hospital and allowing mass events

- JOHN STEVENS, SOPHIE HUSKISSON & ASHLEY COWBURN

BORIS Johnson was condemned by the families of coronavirus victims as he began his evidence at the Covid Inquiry yesterday with a craven apology.

Failing to acknowledge his own blundering leadership during the pandemic, he would only say he was sorry for the "pain and the loss and the suffering of Covid victims".

To avoid coming face to face with the families, the coward had crept into Dorland House at 7 am - three hours before the hearing was to begin.

But he couldn't avoid the four women who disrupted proceedings, holding up signs that read: "The dead can't hear your apology. 

After taking an oath, swearing to tell the truth for a change, the former prime minister began by saying: "Can  I just say... how sorry I am for the pain and the loss and the suffering of Covid victims.

He admitted he should have realised the dangers of Covid sooner, and that he missed five COBRA meetings in early 2020.

He said shaking hands with people in hospital and allowing mass gatherings as he resisted lockdown may have been mistaken, but he did not apologise for any of that.

One of the protesters, Kathryn Butcher, 59, who lost a sister-in-law, later said: "Personally, I won't ever accept his apology for the way he handled the pandemic. I was never going to accept it."  

She held a photo of her sister-in-law Myrna Saunders, 56, and another of Jake Corser, 15, a friend's son, who both died. 

She said: "Jake was a perfectly healthy 15-year-old who was just about to finish school and looking forward to going to college, planning out what he was going to do for his future. He cruelly had that cut short in July 2020.”" During his evidence, Johnson admitted he should have "twigged much sooner" about the danger the country faced. He admitted failing to attend key meetings and going on holiday just days after being warned the virus would "sweep the world".