Covid inquiry exposes government chaos
A picture of a chaotic, indecisive pandemic-era government, both riven with internal clashes and eager to conceal its own failings, emerged today during an explosive day at Britain’s Covid inquiry.
In a week of hearings focussed on political governance during the pandemic, the Covid Inquiry was shown a damning message sent to Dominic Cummings by Simon Case, Britains most senior civil servant. Expressing exasperation at his then-boss, Boris Johnson, Case declared: “I am at the end of my tether”. Pointing to Johnson’s tendency to veer between wanting to impose stricter lockdown conditions and open up the country, Case added, “he changes strategic direction every day..he cannot lead…IT HAS TO STOP.”
Johnson’s apparent inability to act decisively chimed with further evidence revealed today in a diary extract from Sir Patrick Vallance, in which the government’s former chief scientific adviser accused Johnson of “ridiculous flip-flopping”.
Not only did today’s evidence expose Westminster’s failings, it also painted a picture of a government eager to cover its tracks.
Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private secretary until March 2022 – a man who earned himself the nickname “party Marty” after sending an email inviting over 100 Whitehall staffers to a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden during first lockdown – gave evidence today.
He too conceded that “the Prime Minister blew hot and cold” on key decisions during the pandemic but, perhaps even more revealingly, he admitted to turning on the disappearing messages function in a WhatsApp group called “PM Updates” where the Prime Minister and senior civil servants discussed key information on the pandemic. This meant that all new messages would disappear from the group seven days after they were sent. Reynolds had the bright idea to turn on such a setting in April 2021, one month before Johnson confirmed a public inquiry would be held but at a time when calls for an inquiry were already mounting. Today, he said he “could not recall” exactly why he turned on the function. We can make an educated guess.
Yet it seems it’s not just at Westminster and Whitehall where they were eager to erase their digital footprints. As The Hound reports today, senior SNP politicians who led Scotland during the Covid-19 pandemic are coming under scrutiny after informal WhatsApp messages were not handed over as evidence to the Covid inquiry because they had been deleted. Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of wiping messages related to the Covid pandemic from her phone and, according to UK Covid inquiry documents, WhatsApp data from first minister Humza Yousaf and former deputy first minister John Swinney also no longer exists. Yousaf – who served as Scottish health secretary during the pandemic – says it is “certainly not true” that he removed any messages.
If today has offered up a damning indictment of Britain’s pandemic-era government, then prepare for some even more blistering evidence tomorrow. On Tuesday, the Covid Inquiry will welcome Boris Johnson’s top aide-turned-enemy, Dominic Cummings, to the testimony box.
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