Former prime minister Boris Johnson has said he believes the Covid pandemic was caused by a leak from a laboratory in China, and did not originate in unsanitary conditions in a Wuhan market. He joins Donald Trump in dismissing evidence suggesting that the virus was transmitted “zoonotically” from infected animals.

Boris Johnson has said he is “no longer sure” lockdowns played a decisive role in defeating Covid. Describing the pandemic restrictions as “ literally medieval in their savagery and consequences ”, he likened himself to King Canute and questioned whether it was possible for government action to “repel the waves of a highly contagious disease”.

Boris Johnson has claimed in his new book that he now believes the Covid pandemic began with a leak from a Chinese laboratory, in a u-turn on previous comments