Boris Johnson’s pandemic claims revisited

Today, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson will appear before the Covid-19 Inquiry.

In the years since the start of the pandemic, Full Fact has fact checked Mr Johnson many times.

This included incorrect claims about what government advice on care homes did and did not say and on who was entitled to extra self-isolation support.

We looked at Mr Johnson’s claims about testing which weren’t supported by the data available and whether any country had a functioning contact tracing app.

We also repeatedly fact checked incorrect claims from Mr Johnson about the change in employment levels in the period following the pandemic.

In addition to fact checks we also tried to provide clarity amidst the confusion regarding a reported ‘back to work’ campaign in autumn 2020, including comments from Mr Johnson.

At the start of 2023 we fact checked a misleading claim from the former PM that the UK wouldn't have been able to approve the Covid-19 vaccines as quickly as it did without Brexit. We also fact checked a number of ministers making a similar claim during the pandemic.

More recently we’ve looked again at claims on life expectancy made in a series of 2020 WhatsApp messages by Mr Johnson. These were discussed at the Inquiry in October.