Boris Johnson Covid Inquiry live: Latest updates as ex-PM prepares to give bombshell evidence about handling of the pandemic

Watch as Boris Johnson arrived at the Covid inquiry - around three hours before it was due to begin.

It's now less than ten minutes until Boris Johnson is expected to begin giving evidence.

He will be questioned by Hugo Keith KC, the counsel to the inquiry.

Johnson is expected to defend his decision-making over the pandemic.

The Daily Mail's Andrew Pierce will be among those keeping a close eye on Boris Johnson's evidence at the Covid Inquiry today. He has tweeted the following:

Boris Johnson's expected claim at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that he got the big decisions right during the pandemic would be a 'grotesque distortion of the truth', a lawyer for bereaved families has said.

Aamer Anwar, lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved group, told a press conference ahead of the former prime minister's evidence in west London: 'Boris Johnson is expected to issue an apology this morning.

'Yet he will claim he saved thousands of lives.

'For many of the bereaved that will be a grotesque distortion of the truth.

'In Boris Johnson's words, instead of solving a national crisis, his government presided over a total disgusting orgy of narcissism.

'He did let the bodies pile up and the elderly were treated as toxic waste.

'As a result, over a quarter of a million people died from Covid. They cannot speak for themselves but their families, the bereaved and all those impacted by Covid deserve the truth today.'

With Mr Johnson likely to be grilled on the evidence of ex-colleagues, a report in The Times revealed that he has not been able to provide the inquiry with any communications spanning the early days of the pandemic and most of the first lockdown.

The paper reported that he told Baroness Heather Hallet's inquiry that technical experts have not been able to retrieve WhatsApp messages from between January 31 and June 7 2020.

Technical experts had been trying to recover messages from his old mobile phone to hand them to the inquiry. Mr Johnson was originally told to stop using the device over security concerns after it emerged his number had been online for years.

He then reportedly forgot the passcode, but it was believed that technical experts had succeeded in helping him recover messages for the inquiry.

A spokesman for the former prime minister said: 'Boris Johnson has fully co-operated with the inquiry's disclosure process and has submitted hundreds of pages of material.

'He has not deleted any messages.'

Good morning, and welcome to MailOnline's live coverage of the coronavirus inquiry.

From 10am former Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be giving evidence, which is expected to last for two days.

We will be bringing you all the latest updates as he is quizzed over his role in handling the pandemic.