A woman whose parents passed away within weeks of each other after battling Covid-19 has described the revelations that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson thought the virus was “Nature’s way of dealing with old people” as “disgusting and inhumane”.

George Little died in December, 2020, while his wife, Violet, passed away in January, 2021, with their only child, Hazel Gray, saying her parents were everything to her.

The ongoing Covid-19 inquiry heard on Tuesday that former Chief Scientific Officer, Patrick Vallance, made diary entries alleging this attitude by Mr. Johnson.

Sir Patrick hit out in his diaries about “quite a bonkers set of exchanges” featuring Mr. Johnson, extracts shown to the official inquiry on Tuesday showed.

The adviser wrote in August, 2020, that Mr. Johnson was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going”.

“Quite bonkers set of exchanges,” he said, referring to the “PM WhatsApp group”.

Then, in December, 2020, Sir Patrick wrote that Mr. Johnson said he believed he had been “acting early” and that the “public are with him (but his party is not)”.

“He says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just Nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much’. Wants to rely on polling. Then he says, ‘We should move things to Tier 3 now’.”

Impartial Reporter: The late George and Violet Little.The late George and Violet Little.

Hazel Gray said what was coming out from the inquiry was “very concerning” as she still deals with the trauma of losing both of her parents in such a short space of time.

“I’m actually still trying to clear another little bit out of my parents’ house today. I haven’t been able to get this done yet, and their beautiful house has been virtually undisturbed until recently.

“My parents went to hospital and just disappeared from the world without trace, and I still can’t come to terms with it all,” she added.

Hazel said she gets anxious going into her parents’ house because of the trauma of being alone in it after her parents were admitted to the hospital.

She spent days in the house isolating after contracting Covid-19.

“And [I] had to deal with the trauma of my dad’s death alone until the day of his funeral.

“I’ll never get over that loneliness, and every time I go through the door, I relive the whole nightmare again.

“[I’m] totally scarred for life by this ordeal, and now to learn what the thought process and reaction by the leadership of the country was, is disgusting and inhumane.”

Impartial Reporter: The late Basil Elliott with his sister, Anne.The late Basil Elliott with his sister, Anne.

Anne Elliott-King’s brother, Basil, passed away in December, 2020, after contracting Covid-19.

She has been following the inquiry, but said it can be “triggering” when dates are mentioned as it makes her think about where her brother was at that time.

Anne admitted she will never forgive those in power during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that when she was her brother was being buried, “they were partying in No. 10”.

“There’s an awful lot of hurt,” she said.

She further claimed: “The fact that Boris [Johnson] was of the opinion, ‘We’re not going to interfere, let those old people die, sure they are going to die anyway’ – that hurt.

“Losing our loved ones was a big thing, but not having a funeral, and not having a proper grieving process, was just as important.

“I just think for a man with an elderly father himself, I think it’s outrageous that he should make a statement like that.”

Anne said she will be listening closely when Mr. Johnson gives his evidence at the inquiry, and added: “I will never forgive them, ever. I would not like to have hate in my heart, but it’s getting very close.”

Messages shown to the inquiry showed that on October 15, 2020, Mr. Johnson stressed the need to “recalibrate” away from a nationwide lockdown, because it was mainly elderly people dying.

“I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities”, he wrote.

“The median age is 82 – 81 for men, 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer.”

The then Prime Minister said: “I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff”, and said there were “max 3m [three million] in this country aged over 80”.

On Monday, the inquiry heard that Mr. Johnson had, according to a note read from the diary of a former Private Secretary, asked why the economy was being destroyed “for people who will die anyway soon”, in the days before the country went into lockdown.

The diary note from Imran Shafi, which he attributed to Mr. Johnson, stated: “We’re killing the patient to tackle the tumour. Large ppl [taken to mean large numbers of people] who will die, why are we destroying economy for people who will die anyway soon.”