COVID-19 inquiry says UK govt response was ‘chaotic’
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson oversaw a toxic, chaotic and erratic response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by the public inquiry; The delay in quarantining the country led to nearly 23,000 more deaths.
The UK has recorded more than 230,000 deaths from Covid-19; This has a death rate similar to the United States and Italy but higher than elsewhere in Western Europe and is still recovering from the economic consequences.
An inquiry ordered by Johnson in May 2021 offered a stunning assessment of his government’s response to COVID-19, criticizing its indecisive leadership, berating the Downing Street office for breaking its own rules and berating his chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
“There was a toxic and chaotic culture at the heart of the UK government during the pandemic,” former judge Heather Hallett, who chaired the inquiry, said in her report.
Baroness Hallett, Head of UK Covid Research, made a statement about her findings and recommendations. View the full statement by visiting our YouTube channel 📺👇https://t.co/ks93iZFU9P pic.twitter.com/0jJ5LZnsOV— UK Covid-19 Inquiry (@covidinquiryuk) November 20, 2025
“I can summarize my findings regarding the answer as too little, too late,” Hallett said in a statement Thursday.
“All four governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat or the urgency of the response called for in early 2020, based in part on misleading assurances that the UK was appropriately prepared for a pandemic.”
Hallett said Johnson failed to appreciate the seriousness of the virus after it emerged, believing it would mean nothing, and that Britain was deadlocked in negotiations to leave the European Union at the time and was distracted by other government business.
“Mr Johnson should have realized earlier that this was an emergency requiring the prime ministerial leadership to add urgency to the response,” the report said.
When he appears before the committee in 2023, Johnson said he understood public anger, saying his government had been too complacent and “grossly underestimated” the risks.
Hallett said when Johnson announced the lockdown on March 23 it was too little, too late; this was a criticism he repeatedly leveled at the UK government and the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The report concluded that if the UK had locked down just a week earlier on 16 March (as the consensus of evidence suggests) the number of deaths in the first wave by July would have fallen by around 23,000, or 48 per cent.
In the statement, it was stated that failure to take action earlier due to the increase in cases later in the year also led to more quarantines.
But Hallett added that “the inquiry does not advocate national lockdowns, far from it”.
“If possible, such a draconian restriction of people’s freedom should be avoided, with all its destructive consequences.
“But to avoid them, governments need to take timely and decisive action to control a spreading virus. Four governments in the UK have not done this.”
The investigation report stated that government cabinet members and key scientists, including health secretary Matt Hancock, all failed to act with the urgency required to combat the virus.
And Johnson’s special adviser said Cummings used “offensive, sexualized and misogynistic” language as he “poisoned” the atmosphere in Downing Street.
Hallett said the inquiry found Johnson realized he had to grapple with deep decisions, but repeatedly changed his mind and was unable to make timely decisions despite having a clearer understanding of the virus.
with AP and PA
