“Mi lady…can I say something before we start….
I have failed. I have failed the country. I have failed you. I didn’t have the courage to stand up to the bullies who pressed down on me with their bogus science and one-track minds. I just didn’t have the strength of character to withstand the pile on from my fake advisers, the advisors who I appointed. The onslaught was too great and I was too weak to resist. To my shame I was more concerned with my own reputation, how history would judge me and I was terrorised by the prospect of being forever known as the covid murderer, responsible for deaths of tens of thousands. The emotional pressure was just too much
It was all against my gut, of course. Coercion, lockdowns and the whole sorry debacle was totally against everything I stood for. Other nations come in with the heavy hand but that was not who I believed we were. I said as much and more but I never had the courage or conviction to stick to it. And so the whole dreadful disaster unfolded and continues to unfold: children were socially stunted, teenagers locked in rooms with a solitary diet of screen time, marriages were celebrated behind closed doors, deaths were mourned in pitiless parlours, the dying deprived of human comfort in their final dreadful hours, diagnoses were missed, churches, cinemas, pubs, concert, halls, libraries, cafes, restaurants and anywhere where people meet, closed their doors, businesses were ruined, services cut, people were paid to do nothing, playgrounds were locked, walkers hustled indoors, faces were covered, masked, muffled and drowned in a sea of anti-social distancing, levels, tiers and the rule of six.
And now, as it turned out, as we now know it was all for nothing. None of it worked. All of my team say ‘We should have done it all much quicker’ but I say it should never have been done at all. It was wrong, disastrously wrong, and if there is something we can learn (and that is surely what this enquiry is all about), we should never ever contemplate the same ever again.
How I regret not taking on board the other voices. Those of sane and sound mind of knowledge and experience, leaders in their critical scientific fields. Their wise and simple advice to focus protection on the vulnerable, would have led us to a much safer and better place, without the horrors we now face. How I wish I had listened to those who warned us of the disastrous route we were embarking on. Those who we shut out, shut down, ridiculed and worse. They were right all along and we were wrong.
And how I regret my enthusiasm for the wonder vaccine. How I trumpeted the great British success with Astra Zeneca leading the world in producing it and rolling it out so quickly; only for it to be quietly withdrawn with ominous links to rare blood disorders. I hailed the vaccine overall as a game changer and boasted of its safety and effectiveness when we knew from the start that neither were ever true. My team will say it saved millions of lives but I am not so sure. It can never now be proved, yet still there is growing anxiety over serious side effects leading some to premature deaths.
And, Mi Lady… I could go on…there is so much more I can say but can I finish with just one thing…
I am sorry, and I offer no excuses, no apology. I claim no mitigating circumstances. The decision was all mine, I take full responsibility and … if it helps… I will answer your questions”
Restless Spirit 
I didn’t follow too closely what he said at the inquiry, but I seem to recall him saying that he should have been more aware of the serious threat of Covid and have understood it far sooner – implying he now thinks he should have locked down sooner. I may be wrong about that. But it does seem that – to some extent – he’s trying to portray himself as someone who fully agrees with lockdowns and wishes he’d acted sooner. Some say he’s thinking about his image and possible return to politics, and therefore wishes to create the idea he’s a caring soul.