Matt Hancock will finally have the chance to hit back after months of criticism by top officials at the Covid-19 Inquiry.
The former health secretary has been repeatedly branded a liar, incompetent and weak by witnesses before the probe.
But Mr Hancock has not yet responded to the barrage of criticism he has faced, promising instead that he will answer “all questions when he gives his evidence”.
Supporters of the ex-health secretary, who was forced to quit after his affair with aide Gina Coladangelo came to light, believe he is being used as a scapegoat by senior officials to distract wider government failings on Covid.
And in a bumper session, expected to run from Thursday at 10.00am and spill into Friday, Mr Hancock will seek to correct the record of his time handling the pandemic.
So far the inquiry has heard that Britain’s top civil servant urged former PM Boris Johnson to sack Mr Hancock during the pandemic, “to save lives and protect the NHS”.
Former cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill said he made the suggestion as a joke in a WhatsApp message to then-No10 permanent secretary Simon Case.
Former NHS boss Simon Stevens also attacked him for wanting to “decide who should live or die if the NHS became overwhelmed” in the pandemic.
Mr Johnson’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings used the inquiry to attack Mr Hancock as a “proven liar”, a “problem leaker” and a “c***”.
And Helen MacNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary, claimed Mr Hancock was “regularly” telling people things that they later discovered were not true and that No10 had a “lack of confidence” that what he said were happening “was actually happening”.
On Wednesday, a portion of Mr Hancock’s written evidence was read to the inquiry in which he admitted the government had “announced a policy [lockdown tiers] that we knew would not work”.
Mr Hancock’s supporters have pointed to evidence from Lord Stevens, who said he was “not sure” he had seen evidence that the former health secretary was a liar.
They have also highlighted former Department of Health and Social Care permanent secretary Chris Wormald, who said he was not aware of Mr Hancock having said anything untrue.
Mr Hancock has already used his newfound reality TV fame to mount a defence of his affair with Ms Coladangelo.
The backbench MP told campmates on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here that he broke lockdown guidance because he “fell in love with somebody”, asking for “forgiveness”.