Boris Johnson took four days off as NHS warned Covid could ‘overwhelm’ system | Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has taken four days off from official government work at a crucial time in the UK’s Covid preparedness, with the NHS set to be “overwhelmed” by the virus.

The official statement for the period from February 2020 – described by the Covid inquiry as a “lost month” in the country’s crisis response – revealed that Johnson had taken a long break during the half-term break, during which he spent time walking his dog and riding a motorbike at Chevening, a state estate in Kent.

The former prime minister, who joined the investigation in December 2023, was questioned about his activities between 14 and 24 February 2020. “It wasn’t a long holiday. I was working throughout the semester and the pace picked up.”

But official activity records appear to refute the evidence Johnson gave under oath.

The files suggest that Johnson did not conduct any official government business on February 15, 16, 17 and 21. Instead, he appears to have spent time walking his Jack Russell dog Dilyn around Chevening’s 1,416 hectares (3,500 acres), riding a motorcycle given to him by his now-wife Carrie, and hosting friends and family for lunch, dinner and overnight stays.

The recordings from February 14 to 24 do not contain any reference to Johnson working on the fight against Covid, but Johnson said he had discussed the virus in planned meetings with other world leaders.

The Covid inquiry this week concluded the UK’s response to the virus was “too little, too late” and that imposing a lockdown just a week earlier on March 16 could have saved more than 20,000 lives.

He described February 2020 as a “lost month” and said the response to the virus was essentially halted during the semester break. The report said a “toxic and chaotic” culture existed in Downing Street under the Johnson administration.

It was revealed that no cabinet meeting was held between 14 and 25 February. The report stated that Johnson was not given “significant” information about the virus during this period and did not receive daily updates.

He added: “Mr Johnson should have realized earlier that this was an emergency requiring the prime ministerial leadership to add urgency to the response.”

Details of Johnson’s activities are revealed in an official government document contained in the Boris Files, a cache of leaked documents. The files were seen by the Guardian after being obtained by the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets.

On February 21, while Johnson was cycling through Chevening, the British government was informed of a new cluster of 16 cases in northern Italy. Officials were told that seven patients were in intensive care and none had traveled to China, sparking fears that the virus could no longer be contained.

On the same day, NHS England said that if the government did not take “significant interventions to flatten the curve” but lockdown measures were not implemented in England for more than four weeks, it could be “overwhelmed” before the virus peaks, “despite continued mitigation efforts”.

Johnson was not briefed and records show he did not take part in any calls regarding the escalating situation in Europe. However, they do show him enjoying a four-hour dinner with his wife’s friend Catherine Humphrey, who will later witness the couple’s May 2021 wedding.

The inquiry, chaired by retired judge and co-chair Heather Hallett, said the outbreak in Italy “should trigger urgent planning” in the UK, including in the devolved administrations. But the report added: “Instead, governments did not take the pandemic seriously enough until it was too late. February 2020 was a lost month.”

The files show Johnson worked only two full days during the Chevening break (February 19 and 20). He said that he had a 20-minute meeting with US President Donald Trump on February 20 and discussed the virus and its origins. This was followed by a three-hour dinner with Henry Newman, Simone Finn and Josh Grimstone, who were apparently close friends of the former government official’s wife, records say.

According to the documents, Johnson attended a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on February 18 and worked for only 40 minutes. One purpose of the call was to “compare notes” on Covid, Johnson told the inquiry.

He missed a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, which met to discuss Covid and was chaired by then-health secretary Matt Hancock.

As Johnson entertained his late mother Charlotte Johnson and mother-in-law Josephine McAfee at lunch in Chevening, the government’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty told the Cobra meeting that it was possible for the Covid outbreak to turn into a global pandemic.

On February 22, Johnson worked the ministerial lodges for around 90 minutes before hosting his family at his Downing Street flat and walking in St James’ Park as the Italian government prepared to lock down part of the country following the first Covid death. Johnson then spent time shopping in Sevenoaks before returning to Chevening.

He returned to Downing Street on 23 February after spending several hours in ministerial lodges. At this point there were 13 confirmed cases of Covid in the UK.

The government announced the first lockdown in England on 23 March. By now confirmed cases of the virus in the UK have reached 6,726 and there have been 336 deaths. Between March 2020 and May 2023, nearly 227,000 people had Covid listed on their death certificates.

Joe Hurst, spokesman for UK Justice for Families Bereaved by Covid-19, said the revelations in the Guardian were “appalling” and “provide further evidence that he is old”. [Johnson] At that time, he did not take Covid seriously, ignored the warnings he received and put himself before the country. “This confirms the accuracy of the report published on Thursday.”

He added: “It looks like he has questions to answer about how honest he was in front of the investigation.”

Hurst said the Guardian’s reporting described “gross misconduct in public office and total abdication of duty”. [Johnson’s] His role and primary goal as Prime Minister was to keep people safe. The families certainly feel that way, and that’s what the investigation says.

“This will be devastating and terrible for the families to read. It further validates the reasons why they wanted an investigation in the first place.”

Johnson declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Donna Ferguson