Boris Johnson’s Covid candour leaves Rishi Sunak looking shifty

The current prime minister has enjoyed a high reputation among the public for his self-evident compassion. Will it survive his predecessor’s inquiry testimony?

3 June 2023 (Dave Brown)

One group of people has been unfairly, indeed unforgivably, neglected in the current wrangling about government WhatsApp messages and diaries during the pandemic. They are the many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, bereaved as a result of the coronavirus, or else still suffering from the effects of long Covid.

The arguments have been legalistic, political, bureaucratic, technical – and conducted entirely within a sort of bubble.

Behind the lofty debates about precedent, collective responsibility, and the merits of a judicial review, however, lie thinly camouflaged attempts to protect vested interests and political careers.