Kick in the teeth
Covid-19 bereaved speak out on memorial after meeting PM
We asked Boris if he would make the wall permanent. He said he could see it as a good candidate... but he would not commit
HANNAH BRADY, LEFT, WHOSE DAD & NAN DIED OF COVID
BORIS Johnson delivered a “kick in the teeth” for the loved ones of 159,000 Covid victims after refusing to commit to making a poignant memorial permanent.
The Prime Minister met with five members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group at 10 Downing Street yesterday after more than a year of promising to do so.
The group wants a Covid inquiry to take place and initially called for a rapid review last summer.
Jo Goodman, Fran Hall, Lobby Akinnola, Charlie Williams and Hannah Brady said Mr Johnson listened as they finally told him face-to-face the tragic stories of losing their loved ones.
As a further 167 virus deaths were announced yesterday the Prime
Minister committed to a Chair of the inquiry being appointed before Christmas and that the families would have input.
He also agreed to engage with them around enhanced bereavement support. But he failed to make promises over the future of the mural, dubbed the wall of hearts. Stretching more than a third of a mile along the South Bank in London the mural consists of thousands of red and pink hearts “individually hand-painted; unique, like the loved ones lost”.
Trainee teacher Hannah Brady, 25, said: “We asked Boris if he would make the wall permanent.
“He said he could see it as a good candidate and very moving. But he would not commit to make it permanent – which is a kick in the teeth because you can see it’s fading.” Hannah’s dad Sean Brady, 55, died of Covid in May 2020 and her nan Margaret Brady died aged 80 in July in a care home in Wigan.
She said that her Heinz factory worker dad “died after 42 days on a ventilator. I never got to say bye.”
Jo Goodman, co-founder of the group, said of Mr
Johnson: “While these platitudes are all very well, what matters is action.”
Lobby Akinnola’s dad Femi, 60, died on April 26, 2020. He acknowledged Mr Johnson listened to them but said: “We want to see more action. People are still dying. If it’s OK to lift restrictions, it [should be] OK to start the inquiry.”
Charlie Williams, 53, from Birmingham lost his father Rex, 85, on April 20, 2020, in a Coventry care home
He said that “even today we don’t believe the PM grasps the urgency of this inquiry”.
A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Johnson thanked family members “for their powerful accounts of how they lost their loved ones. He said it was critical to learn lessons and understand what happened in detail.”