Boris Johnson said 'F** you Daily Mail' about COVID rule-of-six - what you missed today

Boris Johnson had said "f*** you Daily Mail" after he was criticised over the COVID 'rule of six'.

Pete Weatherby KC, who represents the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice, who are a core participant in the inquiry, has shown former prime minister Boris Johnson an extract from the diary of Patrick Vallance, his former chief scientific adviser, that talks about the rule of six for social gatherings during the pandemic.

It says: “PM ‘everyone says the rule of six is so unfair, punishing the young but F*** YOU Daily Mail – look this is all about stopping deaths. We need to tell them’.

Johnson apologised for his language but Wetherby interjected, saying: “Well, it’s in shouty capitals and underlined.”

Johnson replied: “Well not by me”. The former PM said he did not recall the tone of the extract being accurate, saying: “What I can tell you, if indeed it is accurate, is that what I would have been saying is that… this is September… you can see the risk that the virus is going to start taking off again and I’m extremely worried and, with great respect to you sir, it looks to me as though what I’m saying here is that the priority is to – and I am sorry to have said this about the Daily Mail – stop death.”

With Thursday's session now over, here are the highlights from Boris Johnson's tough day of questioning:

• Johnson rejected a suggestion by his former chief of staff Lord Udny-Lister that he had “no real personal relationship” with then-Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

• Johnson was accusing of backing “bulls**t ‘no surrender’ ideas” from his ministers then come to regret it later, WhatsApps between then-Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, former chief adviser Dominic Cummings and former Downing Street director of communications Lee Cain showed.

• Johnson referred to the Government’s facemask policy in the summer of 2020 as “f***** up” in messages to Cummings.

• The former PM said he could not be sure if institutional racism resulted in poorer COVID outcomes for BAME people.

• Johnson said he regretted the hurt caused by his comments that older people "had a good innings" or "were going to die anyway", but argued he wanted people to speak freely and felt that by using such language he was encouraging this.

• The former prime minister said that early on he was told that “we did have a very good test and trace system and ample preparations but that turned out not to be true”.

Day one: key moments

• Whatsapp messages and in-fighting: How dramatic day unfolded

• Johnson apologises for 'pain and loss' caused by the pandemic

• Emotional Boris Johnson describes ‘tragic, tragic 2020’

• Johnson: Hancock may have had defects but did his best

You can read more about Boris Johnson's testimony in our blog below.