Former UK PM Johnson denies he wanted to let COVID 'rip'

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives evidence at the COVID-19 Inquiry, in London, Britain, December 7, 2023 in this screen grab obtained from a handout video. UK Covid-19 Inquiry/Handout via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) -Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Britain's COVID inquiry on Thursday that any suggestion he wanted to allow the virus to "let rip" was "rubbish" and "completely wrong".

Johnson, prime minister between 2019 and 2022, faced a second day of questioning which examined the weeks before the country's second national lockdown in November 2020.