Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this Thursday that he “hated” having to close schools during the pandemic, considering them “reservoirs of risk”, and defended that his decision to have prioritized the opening of pubs and hairdressers was ” sensible.”
Johnson, in power when the pandemic broke out at the beginning of 2020, testified this Thursday for the second consecutive day in the investigation that seeks to evaluate the measures adopted by his Executive to contain the virus.
The investigation chaired by former judge Heather Hallett aims to evaluate the decisions made by the Conservative Government to confront the crisis between January 2020 and February 2022, when the last restrictions were lifted.
The former 'Tory' leader concluded his speech this Thursday by answering several questions, among which he was asked about his decision not to have reopened the country's schools on July 4, 2020, when, instead, the opening of pubs, beauty salons, non-essential goods shops and other establishments.
According to Johnson, the reopening of schools was one of his “key priorities” in the summer of 2020, when the first confinement was lifted.. Instead, these remained closed while activity resumed in bars or hair salons.
Johnson assured that he “hated” having to make that decision, but justified it by arguing that these centers were “large potential reservoirs of risk” and recalled that “young people can easily transmit the virus to the elderly and more vulnerable people.”
When asked if he considered these to be higher risk repositories than pubs or restaurants, he said: “The Government was focused on how to do things, how to sequence them.” “It seemed sensible to us, taking into account where we were in the school calendar, to resume with the normal return to schools,” he justified.
Rishi Sunak, head of the economy
The decision not to reopen educational centers and give priority, instead, to the reopening of theme parks or the hospitality sector with the program promoted by the then head of the Economy – and current Prime Minister – Rishi Sunak to promote consumption has been very criticized.
During the session, it was recalled how the closure of national schools had a negative impact on the educational progress of children.
According to Anne Longfield, former education commissioner until February 2021, the pandemic was a “disaster” for many vulnerable children or in disadvantaged family situations due to the “indifferent” and “indecisive” management of the Executive in this regard.
During the morning session, Johson also admitted that he is not sure there is concrete evidence that his plan to encourage people to eat out after lockdown in 2020 caused a rise in Covid-19 cases. “I don't think I thought that plan was a long shot at the time and it certainly wasn't presented to me as such, nor am I sure there was very substantial evidence that it did indeed increase the R (reproductive number of the virus),” he said.
Johnson recalled that “the country had made an enormous effort, we lowered the R below one, the disease was no longer spreading as before”, so “it was possible to open” the hospitality sector. When the controversial program was implemented to reactivate the economy, it made sense for restaurants “to have some customers,” he stressed.
The former Conservative leader resigned in 2022 as head of the Government following the controversy surrounding parties at the official residence at 10 Downing Street during the pandemic.
The current British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, will appear this Monday to answer questions about the measures that were adopted when he was head of the Economy in the pandemic.