Boris Johnson was left in a "homicidal mood" by the 2020 exams fiasco and considered sacking Sir Gavin Williamson, WhatsApps showed to the Covid Inquiry revealed.
The Tory ex-PM acknowledged that the system had "failed" after an algorithm meant 40% of predicted results were downgraded. A message shown to the inquiry on Tuesday, sent from Mr Johnson to his aide Dominic Cummings, showed he was "in a thoroughly homicidal mood".
He said: "We need a plan for the dept of education. We need a perm sec and we need better ministers and quite frankly we need an agenda of reform. We can't go on like this. I am thinking of going into number ten and firing people."
In his evidence, Mr Johnson admitted the government was "slow" to realise the "full horror" of the pandemic - and said the Government may have gone too far in the restrictions imposed on children.
He was grilled on the impact of the pandemic on children and young people, after ordering schools closed to all pupils except those of key workers and vulnerable children for two periods during 2020 and 2021.
Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett has described the impact on children as "severe and, for many, long-lasting", and the Long Covid Advocacy group has called Mr Johnson's actions as a "failure".
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Boris Johnson's evidence has now finished
The evidence session has now finished. Here's a wrap of the key points:
Boris Johnson has finally admitted the “full horror” of Covid-19 was “slow to dawn on” his pandemic government.
The disgraced former Prime Minister told the Covid-19 Inquiry he thinks children “maybe” should have been exempted from lockdowns. He faced questions about unplanned school closures during the pandemic and harm done to a generation of children.
Read the full story from our Health Editor Martin Bagot here.
Shutting schools should be 'last resort' in future pandemics
Boris Johnson said school closures should be "a measure of last resort" in tackling future events.
Mr Johnson said: "Hopefully this thing never happens again, but it we have to do anything like this again, I think we're really going to have to consider the whole NPI (non-pharmaceutical intervention) system, lockdowns, whether we want to go down that route at all, particularly whether we want to close schools.
"Because it really should be a measure of last resort in the budget of allowances that you speak of. It should be the very last one to be spent, to be used, and we've got to find better ways of doing this."
Boris Johnson defends Eat Out to Help Out
Boris Johnson said Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme had taken a "lot of shot and shell" since the pandemic.
But he said the economy was under great strain at the time and the feeling was it was "reasonable to proceed" with the scheme to help the struggling hospitality industry.
He added: "I think that’s the terrible reality of all these interventions is we don’t know the individual value of any of them."
Boris Johnson says Govt 'probably did go too far' with restrictions on kids
Boris Johnson said: “I think that looking back on it all, the whole lockdowns, the intricacy of the rules, the rule of six… particularly for children, I think we probably did go too far. It was far too elaborate. Maybe we could have found a way of exempting children.
England was in national lockdown between late March and June 2020. People were ordered to stay at home and permitted to leave for essential purposes only, such as buying food or for medical reasons.
From September a “Rule of Six” restriction was applied to England prohibiting social gatherings of more than six people. Children were included in the rule of six restriction in England but were excluded from it in Wales.
It was put to Mr Johnson that for children being outside playing was essentially their exercise. He said: “My understanding of the rules was that children should have been allowed to exercise outdoors.”
Hard to know if lockdown benefits outweighed damage - but predictions were 'really grim'
Boris Johnson was asked if the impact of lockdown was worth it - and said it is hard to know what else could have been done.
He said: "Given the detriment, given the suffering, given the damage, was there another way of reducing the budget of risk? Was there? Was there another thing we could have done? Was there another shot we could have played? And I don’t know the answer to that, nor can I answer.
"Nor can I really be certain what would have happened if we’d gone with what Gavin [Williamson] and the DfE wanted on 4 January 2021, and kept going, what would really have happened?
"I can’t know. None of us can know. But the predictions were really grim."
Boris Johnson admits he led on the Covid catch up tsar
Boris Johnson said he wanted Sir Kevan Collins to set out his ideal wishlist on how to help children recover from Covid.
But the catch-up tsar ended up quitting in protest after the Government committed to only a fraction of the cash he asked for.
Mr Johnson admits he led him on, letting Sir Kevan think he could get significant funding from the Government for the project.
But he said he had to balance this with demands on taxpayers.
Impact of school closures 'on the worst end of my expectations'
Clair Dobbin KC asked Boris Johnson: “Do you think the consequences proved to be worse than you anticipated?”
Stumbling over his answer, the flustered ex-PM said: "That’s a good question. I think that they were certainly as bad as … they were certainly on the, on the … worst end of my expectations … some of the things that happened."
Boris Johnson told about 16-year-old who tried to take his own life during lockdown
Testimony from a parent whose son tried to take his own life during lockdown was read to Boris Johnson.
The 16-year-old had expected to be scouted by a football club but lockdown kicked in and he became depressed.
In July 2020, he went to a wood to attempt suicide but luckily he had told a friend, and his loved ones were able to intervene and get him some mental health support.
Ex-PM admits January 2021 was a 'terrible period'
Boris Johnson said the school closures in January 2021 were a really low moment as he could see the vaccination programme was coming.
Describing this period, Mr Johnson said: "Of all the really, really low moments, it was terrible, that whole period, because I could see the cavalry coming over the hill in the form of vaccines."
"The January spike, I think was bigger than the April spike of 2020, and that plan to open (schools) on January 4 staggered was defeated by Alpha (variant)," he added.
Some primary schools open on January 4, only to have to close again that day, Ms Dobbin said, and asked if that was "the worst of all worlds".
"Yes it was, and I'm very sorry to them, for their efforts, they were in vain."
Exam results fiasco left Boris Johnson in 'homicidal mood'
WhatsApp messages from Dominic Cummings were shown to the Covid Inquiry, which said the exam results fiasco in summer 2020 left Boris Johnson in a "homicidal mood" and he considered sacking then-education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson.
The message from the PM to his then-chief adviser Dominic Cummings where shown, in which he said he was "back in chequers and in a thoroughly homicidal mood".
He said: "We need a plan for the dept of education. We need a perm sec and we need better ministers and quite frankly we need an agenda of reform. We can't go on like this. I am thinking of going into No10 and firing people."
While the permanent secretary at the Department for Education left his job, Mr Johnson did not sack Sir Gavin.
The former prime minister told the inquiry on Tuesday: "I think if I look back at my handling of my beloved colleagues over the three-and-a-bit years I was in government, I can think of all sorts of changes I might have made.
"But I don't think there's any point in speculating about it now, except I think that on the whole, given the difficulties that we faced, I think that the department under Gavin did a pretty heroic job in trying to cope with Covid, and that was my judgment."
Boris Johnson told there was no clear plan on testing in schools
Boris Johnson admits he was seeking further details on how to roll out mass testing in schools as late as December 28 2020.
The inquiry was shown details of discussions at the time about how it could be done, only days before schools were due to go back. Reminder: Schools went back in January in England and then closed again.
Clair Dobbin KC, inquiry counsel, said the documents appeared to show there was no clear plan. "Some of the questions asked by you at this point seem like quite fundamental questions," she said.
She also asked why it had fallen primarily on the Department for Education and schools to deliver mass testing rather than a more shared effort.
"I didn't think it was such an unreasonable thing to ask," Mr Johnson said. "I know it was onerous, but I believed they could do it given the alternative. And the alternative was again, more loss of learning, greater detriment to their pupils, about which they cared passionately."
The former PM added that in the second half of 2020 "mass testing was the only way through for the country that I could see".
"If we could stand up testing schools, we had to do it if we possibly could," he said.
'Boris Johnson presents a diminished figure'
Health Editor Martin Bagot writes from the hearing at Dorland House.
"Boris Johnson had a small coughing fit just as the first session of the day was called to break. He presents a rather diminished figure in person compared to his appearance during his time in high office.
Wearing a dark blue suit, blue patterned tie and brown ankle boots, he appears smaller in stature and more tired, his blonde bouffant hair being a little shorter and thinner these days.
Nonetheless he has remained defiant at times under questioning, at one point responding with the comment: “It seems a bit paradoxical to be criticised for wanting to close schools and for wanting to keep them open.”
Inquiry takes a short break
The inquiry is taking a quick break before it resumes hearing evidence from Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson declines to say if he should have sacked Gavin Wlliamson
Asked if he should have sacked Gavin Williamson, the former PM refused to give a straight answer.
He says: “If I look back at my beloved colleagues during my three years in government, I can think of all sorts of changes I might have made. I don’t think there’s any point speculating on it now. Given the challenges we faced, the department as a whole under Gavin did a pretty heroic job.”
Education department did 'their best'
Mr Johnson is challenged on a paper suggesting the department for education took a long time to understand the impact the pandemic was having on children, and that they knew the GCSE results were a problem in advance of results day.
He tells the inquiry the department was doing their best.
Boris Johnson says 'duff' GCSE results were a 'disaster'
The former PM was asked if he was concerned about GCSE results. He says his memory of it “isn’t perfect”, but that it was “obvious” that the algorithm had not worked, and was producing “duff results”.
Mr Johnon says his advice was to do whatever he could that was “fair” to kids.
He added: “The only solution was to scrap it and go to centrally assessed grades.
"Was the loss of education a disaster? Yes. Was the loss of exams a disaster? Yes."
Boris Johnson says prospect of closing schools was 'regarded with horror'
Mr Johnson said: “I think the inquiry would appreciate that we haven't had a pandemic like this for a very long time. The eventuality of closing schools was one that we regarded with horror, but one that we didn't think we would have to resort to until the peak of of the pandemic.”
Clair Dobbin KC said: “Thank you, Mr Johnson. That's understood that closing schools would be a terrible decision but it’s because the consequences were so profound that it needed to be properly planned for.”
Mr Johnson said: “I accept that the reality was slow to dawn on government generally about the full horror of Covid.”
He added that “it was always obvious to me that school closures were something we were going to have to consider.”
Former PM admits schools closure document doesn't look 'fully formed'
Mr Johnson says he understands the criticism over school closures and not informing schools “imagines” a greater level of knowledge than the government had.
He says: “It’s right that this document doesn’t look like a fully formed plan for school closures”.
400,000 children had 'inadequate parenting'
The inquiry heard 400,000 children had “inadequate parenting” and were potentially at risk in households where carers suffered with problems like mental health conditions and addiction.
The Children’s Rights Alliance for England says only one in 10 vulnerable children entitled to go to school during closures did so.
It was put to Mr Johnson that these children were badly affected by the school closures as well as those in households without computers or chaotic homes where learning was not possible.
Asked by Clair Dobbin KC whether he took responsibility, Mr Johnson said: “Of course, I should say, that I take - it goes without saying - I take full responsibility for all the decisions that we took and all mistakes that were made. They were mistakes that I’m accountable for and for which I take responsibility for.
“Insofar as we got things wrong, I apologise for that. I remain very proud of a lot of the things that teachers and schools did to cope with this unbelievably difficult set of circumstances.”
Boris Johnson on lack of cross-government planning
Over the last two weeks, the inquiry has previously heard from headteachers who said they started making their own plans in February and March 2020 in case schools closed - weeks before any announcement. One leader talked about driving to a service station on the M4 with two of his staff to meet someone who would show him how to use Google Classroom.
Asked why there was no cross-government planning for the unprecedented move to close schools, Mr Johnson said “it was a subject that repeatedly cropped up” at Government meetings with its scientific advisers.
Easier to criticise Covid decisions with hindsight, Mr Johnson says
Asked if the delays in deciding to close schools “so late in the day” showed a “systemic failure”, Mr Johnson disagreed.
He said:“No, I am not certain that the department for education was quite as remiss as you’ve said. My impression was that they’d done quite a lot of work. I think people responded pretty heroically to the challenge.
“You say late in the day, but that’s a judgement only open to people with hindsight. We did not know how Covid was transmitted, or how children were impacted by it. It was very difficult to plan.”
'Closures had to be part of the initial package'
Mr Johnson is challenged on why a proposal to close schools happened so late.
The former PM explains it was an issue of “timing”, and that there had been a “great acceleration” in the spread of the virus.
He explained SAGE advisers were pushing against a close, but “sadly school closures had to be part of the initial package”.
Mr Johnson added: “There were other factors. Some teachers were self-isolating, so schools were finding it hard to stay open anyway.
"I was very much hoping that we wouldn't have to close schools - I thought it was a nightmare idea,
Gavin Williamson claims
The former PM is asked about claims from his former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson about a lack of advice being sought on schools closing.
Mr Johnson says he disagrees there was no planning for school closures, and that SAGE had talked about the possibility in February of 2020, and that by March the cabinet were talking about it repeatedly.
It was overnight on March 17 2020 that a plan was put together to close schools, before an announcement was made the next day.
He adds: “Work was going on in the DfE about school closures, and it would be amazing if it wasn’t”
School closures reserved for peak of virus
Mr Johnson says he wanted to keep school closures ‘til the very last’. He claimed it was something he only wanted to deploy at the peak of the virus, and when they did come in, he didn’t think the virus was at its peak yet.
He said: “We thought it was premature, it was not sure it something I thought we would have to implement, if at all”.
Mr Johnson insists school closures were discussed with department
Mr Johnson is asked if he accepts before March 15 2020 that there was no plan in place for the closing of schools. The former PM insisted planning was already underway.
He said: “I believe there was such planning. At the time, don’t forget that we didn’t know that this disease had on kids, we didn’t know much about the transmissibility of the disease. From the point of view of Number 10, we were focused very much on trying to stave off an appalling public health crisis.”
Boris Johnson claims departments should have known school closures were coming
The former PM is confronted by quotes from the former Permanent Secretary for the Department for Education, Jonathan Slater, that there was no plan ready to close schools.
Mr Johnson explains he was determined to keep schools open, and that his Mr Slater should have “picked up” that work was going on in this area.
Boris Johnson swears to tell the truth
Boris Johnson has taken his seat at the inquiry, and sworn on the bible to give truthful testimony.
Long Covid Advocacy call for inquiry on long-term disability
Long Covid Advocacy warns Mr Johnson’s government’s failures contributed to delayed diagnoses, disrupted education and devastating isolation for affected children. The organisation is calling for the Inquiry to hold political leaders accountable for the long-term disability crisis it says is now affecting thousands of UK families.
It points to Office for National Statistics data showing one in 165 children and young people, - 72 000 individuals - reported Long Covid symptoms after a second Covid-19 infection.
Dr Rupert Higham, of the Institute of Education at University College London, said: “Johnson’s contempt for the truth is written in the bodies of our children. We’re not interested in apologies. Children and young people deserve justice, recognition, and change. That means accountability for the past and prevention for the future.”
'Failure to prepare schools for Covid-19 wasn’t accidental'
Long Covid campaigners have released a statement just before Mr Johnson is due to appear before the inquiry.
Claire Every, spokesperson for Long Covid Advocacy, said: “The government’s failure to prepare schools for Covid-19 wasn’t accidental - it was ideological. When Boris Johnson compared Long Covid to ‘Gulf War Syndrome,’ he exposed a belief system that dismissed biological illness as psychologically influenced. That same mindset drove policies that left children unprotected, unresearched, and unheard.”