The £37 billion project was developed at the beginning of the pandemic to track the contacts of positive Covid cases, but was heavily criticised for failure to meet targets despite the vast cost.
Mr Johnson said that it had been suggested the country went into lockdown to allow the testing programme to get on top of the rising cases, but asked: “Has Test and Trace ever got on top of anything?”
The inquiry heard an extract from the diaries of Sir Patrick Vallance, the then chief scientific adviser, who noted that Mr Johnson had complained of “medieval measures” and spoke of holding “whisky and a revolver” during a meeting in October 2020.
He added that the prime minister was “all over the place” and that Mr Sunak was “using increasingly specific and spurious arguments against closing hospitality”.
Referring to the option of no more restrictions, Sir Patrick wrote: “Do nothing… and count the bodies,” adding: “When will they decide?”
In other entries, Sir Patrick said the prime minister would be about to make decisions before being “buffeted by a discussion” with the chancellor.
In November 2020, Mr Johnson is said to have argued: “What this disease has taught us is that hoping something will turn up and it will be OK is f—— stupid.”
Sir Patrick also wrote that Mr Johnson was “the only rational voice” on the political side in pushing for more restrictions at that point.
Mr Johnson has not yet given evidence but will tell the inquiry he was “very worried by the economic harm” of shutting down the country but that he “always attached the highest priority to human life and public health”.
Wanted to be injected with Covid on TV
The Inquiry also heard that Helen Whately, the care minister during Covid, described the discharge of patients from hospitals to care homes at the start of the pandemic as “hugely successful”.
Between March and June of that year, nearly 20,000 care home residents in England and Wales died from Covid, but minutes from a meeting held in April 2020, attended by several Cabinet ministers, said it had improved NHS capacity.
“The minister of state for care said that discharges from hospitals in the community to increase NHS capacity had been hugely successful,” the minutes read.
The inquiry was shown an email from April 2 2020 from Alexandra Burns, then the private secretary to Mr Johnson, asking about a care home strategy that was not just about supporting NHS capacity.
She wrote: “Just looking at some of the stuff coming out of Europe and it feels like something we need to be properly ahead of given that once someone gets it in one of these places many die.”
Lord Edward Udny-Lister, the former Chief of Staff at No 10, confirmed Mr Johnson had told civil servants and advisers he wanted to be injected with Covid on television, comments he said were made “before the Italian situation had really become apparent to everybody.”
He also confirmed he had heard Mr Johnson say in September 2020 that he said would rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown, which Lord Udny-Lister described as “an unfortunate turn of phrase”.
“It should be borne in mind that by this point the Government was trying to avoid a further lockdown given the already severe impact on the economy and education,” he said.
