By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) -Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson oversaw a toxic, chaotic and dithering response to the COVID pandemic, with a delay to locking the country down resulting in about 23,000 more deaths, a report by a public inquiry concluded on Thursday.

Britain recorded more than 230,000 deaths from COVID, a similar death rate to the United States and Italy but higher than elsewhere in western Europe, and it is still recovering from the economic consequences.

An inquiry, which Johnson ordered in May 2021, delivered a blistering assessment of his government’s response to COVID, criticising his indecisive leadership, lambasting his Downing Street office for breaking their own rules and castigating his top adviser Dominic Cummings.

‘TOXIC AND CHAOTIC CULTURE’

See Full Page