Boris Johnson and David Cameron back in spotlight as Covid Inquiry presses on - The Yorkshire Post says

Mr Cameron gave evidence under oath as the inquiry continues to look into the country’s preparedness before the pandemic struck in 2020.

MPs, meanwhile, prepared to debate the the Privileges Committee’s damning report that ruled Mr Johnson had misled them over Partygate.

It is Mr Johnson who faced public and parliamentary opprobrium over his conduct during lockdowns – and rightly so. But was it the austerity policies of Mr Cameron and his Chancellor, George Osborne, that laid the groundwork for our response to this traumatic episode in the country’s history?

The British Medical Association, representing doctors, accused them of allowing the NHS to get into a “parlous state”, while the Trades Union Congress said austerity was a “political choice” which left the UK “hugely exposed to the pandemic”.

Mr Cameron rejected that idea yesterday, saying it was “absolutely essential to get the British economy and British public finances back to health so you can cope with a future crisis”.

He did, however, concede that it was a “mistake” for his government to focus too heavily on preparations for combating a wave of influenza rather than a coronavirus-like pandemic.

Plenty is being written about Conservative in-fighting at the moment, as Mr Johnson’s debasement of his former office continues to keep the Tories at each other’s throats.

Away from the acrimony in Westminster, families who were bereaved during the pandemic – and those struggling with long Covid – will be watching the more clinical inquiry process, hoping to finally make real sense of their loss.