tell me why you are here today, sammie mcfarland. —— why you are hitting a, oonagh cousins. to retire. i am here to represent the 1.9 million people in the uk that are suffering this disease. what million people in the uk that are suffering this disease. what does it mean for you _ suffering this disease. what does it mean for you to — suffering this disease. what does it mean for you to actually _ suffering this disease. what does it mean for you to actually be - suffering this disease. what does it mean for you to actually be here? i mean for you to actually be here? you have travelled down here, you obviously won't get to personally speak to boris johnson, obviously won't get to personally speak to borisjohnson, but obviously won't get to personally speak to boris johnson, but you felt you needed to witness it?— you needed to witness it? yeah, watchin: you needed to witness it? yeah, watching it _ you needed to witness it? yeah, watching it on — you needed to witness it? yeah, watching it on tv, _ you needed to witness it? yeah, watching it on tv, and _ you needed to witn

we were talking to lobby, the guests earlier, oonagh cousins and sammie mcfarland from a long covid group. we can look back on the politics of this and it feels like a big moment in history but, ultimately, it was a shared and lived experience for this nation living through the pandemic. important to remember over the next couple of days borisjohnson's character fascinates political people like me. it is a question that will keep being asked, was he the right person? but the fundamental question at the heart of the next couple of days is was the government working properly and i didn't get the big calls right? i think everybody accepts, or a lot of people accept you wouldn't make every decision in an absolutely perfect way in an unprecedented situation, but it's that sense of did borisjohnson and his number 10 operation understand how big covid was early enough? did they make the first lockdown decision quickly enough and did they learn lessons as they were going on? there have been all these claims about borisjohnson being dismissive of some of the science, talking about letting the bodi