CAM: I WAS WRONG ON PANDEMIC

Ex-PM admits that mistakes were made But backs government's economic plan

- ASHLEY COWBURN

DAVID Cameron was heckled by shouts of "shame on you" when he defended austerity measures as he gave evidence at the Covid Inquiry yesterday.

The ex-Tory leader desperately attempted to defend his controversial economic policy.

But, under oath, he conceded the government he led between 2010 and 2016 focused too heavily on preparations for fighting a wave of flu virus rather than a Covid-like pandemic.

Cameron told the inquiry, chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett: "I think it was a mistake not to look more at the range of different types of pandemic.

"Much more time was spent on pandemic flu and the dangers of pandemic flu rather than on potential pandemics of other, more respiratory diseases - like Covid turned out to be.

Cameron was shown a document from a meeting of experts in 2015 that suggested coronaviruses and respiratory diseases were "a clear and present danger".