UK PM Sunak ‘deeply sorry’ for pandemic deaths

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said he was “deeply sorry” for those who lost family during the Covid pandemic as he was quizzed about his actions as finance minister during the global health emergency.

Sunak is expected to face questions at the public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the crisis over whether his “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme to boost the struggling hospitality sector during the pandemic spurred the spread of Covid-19.

But he started the session by saying “how deeply sorry I am to all of those who lost loved ones, family members through the pandemic”.

He also explained that he had lost WhatsApp messages sent during the crisis as they had not transferred over to his new phones.

Boris Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, told the hearing last week that the app had “somehow” automatically erased its chat history on his phone for the first six months of 2020.

londonGBDESK//