Boris Johnson faced up to reality yesterday when he conceded for the first time there would be an “independent inquiry” into the coronavirus pandemic.
The Prime Minister said the Government would seek to learn lessons “in the future” but offered little detail on when it would happen.
Given the scale of the outbreak, and the number of people who lost their lives, there was never any question on whether an inquiry would take place.
It’s vital ministers learn from their mistakes and ensure the country is better prepared for a future health crisis.
But Johnson’s comments in the Commons yesterday don’t go nearly far enough.
The UK Government must now commit to a full public inquiry on what went wrong and how things could have been handled differently.
Only this will offer those who served on the frontline the chance to speak candidly about the conditions they laboured under in the early days of the crisis.
It will give those who lost loved ones the opportunity to share their testimony in unvarnished terms.
A review is too important to be left to a retired senior civil servant to work on in private for years.
And there is another good reason an inquiry must be as transparent as possible – Boris Johnson’s Government simply cannot be trusted.
