Boris Johnson says he takes ‘responsibility’ for handling of pandemic as UK death toll reaches 100,000

Boris Johnson has claimed he takes “responsibility” for the UK Government’s handling of the pandemic as the death toll reached more than 100,000.

The Prime Minister made the comments on Tuesday as separate figures published by statistics agencies showed there have been more than 115,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson apologised and offered his condolences to the families of those who had lost loved ones.

He said: I’m deeply sorry for the lives that have been lost.

Boris Johnson has claimed he takes “responsibility” for the UK Government’s handling of the pandemic as the death toll today reached more than 100,000.

“I take responsibility for everything the Government has done.

“We did everything we could and continue to do everything that we can.

“I think you would exhaust the thesaurus of misery – it’s an appalling and tragic loss of life, there’s no question about it.”

In a sombre press conference to mark the tragic figure, the PM promised to honour those who had lost their lives.

He said: “I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one – fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who have been taken.

“To all those who grieve, we make this pledge – that when we come through this crisis we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others.

“We will remember the courage of countless working people, not just our amazing NHS and care workers, but shop workers, transport staff, pharmacists, teachers, police, armed forces, emergency services and many others who kept our country going during our biggest crisis since the Second World War.

“We will commemorate the small acts of kindness – the spirit of volunteering and the daily sacrifice of millions who placed their lives on hold, time and again, as we fought each new wave of the virus, buying time for our brilliant scientists to come to our aid.

“In that moment of commemoration, we will celebrate the genius and perseverance of those who discovered the vaccines.

“Until that time, the best and most important thing we can all do to honour the memory of those who have died is to work together with ever greater resolve to defeat this disease. And that is what we will do.”

Responding to the the tragic milestone, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed it was a “terrible reminder of all that we have lost as a country”.

He said: “We must never become numb to these numbers or treat them as just statistics.

“Every death is a loved one, a friend, a neighbour, a partner or a colleague. It is an empty chair at the dinner table.

“To all those that are mourning, we must promise to learn the lessons of what went wrong and build a more resilient country.

“But for now we must remember those that we have lost and be vigilant in the national effort to stay at home, protect our NHS and vaccinate Britain.”

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