Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has hit out at "absolutely absurd" portrayals of partying in Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic, as he faced a second day of questioning at a public inquiry.
Mr Johnson, 59, was forced from office last year after public anger at revelations about the series of lockdown-breaching parties dubbed "Partygate".
However, he insisted to the inquiry that perceptions of the scandal were "a million miles from the reality of what happened".
It follows him apologising yesterday for "the pain and the loss and the suffering" caused by the pandemic on his much-anticipated first day in the witness box, and accepting "mistakes" had "unquestionably" occurred.