Boris Johnson denies UK failure in planning COVID school closures but apologizes for mistakes

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LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied on Tuesday that his government failed to properly prepare for the “horror” of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he apologized for government mistakes.

Johnson told the U.K. Covid-19 Inquiry that officials were overwhelmed by the acceleration of the virus but he believed his Education Department was considering school closings. His education secretary, however, has testified that he was given one night to develop a plan to close schools in March 2020.

“I was very much hoping that we wouldn’t have to close schools,” Johnson testified. “I thought it was a nightmare idea.”

It was the second time Johnson has appeared before the inquiry he agreed to establish after being pressured by bereaved families who were particularly angry at his own actions. Two years ago, he defended himself from suggestions that his indifference and failure to heed scientific advice led to thousands of unnecessary deaths in Britain.

The probe is expected to run through 2027. Its current focus concerns children.

Johnson denied a suggestion previously made by Jon Coles, a former director-general at the Education Department, that there had been an “extraordinary dereliction of duty” in not planning earlier for how to close schools.

Former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson testified last week that he had not asked school officials to prepare an assessment on closures in early 2020 because it wasn’t recommended at the time and Johnson hadn’t ordered it.

Williamson described an abrupt and “discombobulating” 24-hour period when he went from trying to keep schools open to announcing that they would close.

Johnson said the possibility of school closures had been discussed since February and he didn’t think he needed to instruct the Education Department to plan for them.

“Everybody understood that school closures was part of the tool kit that we might sadly have to use,” Johnson said. “We were being forced by events, by the spread of the disease, to deploy that solution much earlier than we wanted.’

Johnson said he took responsibility for the government’s response and apologized for the mistakes made. He said children paid a huge price to protect the rest of society.

“Was the disappointment, anger, the additional frustration of a large number of kids a disaster? Yes, it was,” Johnson said.

Dan Paskins, of Save the Children UK, said the rushed decisions had damaged a generation of children, saying that “no amount of regret will undo the harm that has been done.”

As Johnson left the building Tuesday, protesters for a charity that represents children with long COVID shouted, “Shame on you.”