Don’t be fooled by Boris the bamboozler – he will be ready for his star Covid inquiry turn

Johnson will put up a beguiling performance, we can be sure, writes his biographer, Anthony Seldon. Expect some carefully calculated contrition, wit and self-deprecation – and a forensic response prepared by some of the best lawyers in the land

The former prime minister will face the Covid inquiry panel later this week (Getty)

Boris Johnson, we are told, has spent up to a year preparing in meticulous detail for his defence before the Covid inquiry.

I can understand that: it’s a serious deal – and the accusations against him already levelled by witnesses are heavy. Never before has a prime minister been accused of such callousness – nor such a cavalier attitude to his job of leading the nation.

If Johnson had spent a fraction of the time that he’s now putting into saving his bacon caring for his herd of 65 million during the Covid crisis, far better outcomes would have occurred – and many more people today would still be alive.