Covid inquiry: What time is Boris Johnson giving evidence and how to watch

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Boris Johnson arrived at parliament at 7am this morning three hours before he is set to be grilled on the government’s response to the pandemic.

In a much-anticipated evidence session, the former prime minister will be questioned about the UK’s late lockdown and respond to criticism from some of his closest aides about his leadership style.

It comes after Lee Cain, his No 10 director of communications, said the pandemic was the “wrong crisis” for Mr Johnson’s “skill set”, describing dither and delay – a criticism made by multiple other witnesses to the inquiry.

Watch live here

It was also revealed Mr Johnson had been unable to supply the inquiry with any of his WhatsApp messages for almost the entirety of the first lockdown between 31 January and 7 June 2020.

He denied deleting the WhatsApp messages and claimed technical experts were not able to access them after he was advised to stop using the old phone in May 2021 over security concerns.

Boris Johnson arrives to give evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry at Dorland House in London

(Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

Labour frontbencher Nick Thomas-Symonds said it was “typical” and would be “deeply disappointing” to bereaved families.

Despite this, allies of Mr Johnson said that he would issue and “unreserved apology” and admit his government was “initially far too complacent” about the threats posed by the virus.

He will argue he had a “basic confidence that things would turn out all right” on the “fallacious logic” that previous health threats such as BSE and Sars had not proven as catastrophic as feared.

What time is he giving evidence?

Mr Johnson is set to appear before the inquiry at 10am on Wednesday. The session will likely run through until 4.30pm with a one-hour lunch break inbetween. He will also give evidence on Thursday.

Where can you watch the inquiry?

A live stream of the inquiry can be accessed via The Independent’s Youtube channel at 10.15am. It can also be viewed on the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s website.