Covid inquiry live: Priti Patel admits policing of Sarah Everard vigil was ‘totally inappropriate’
Ex-home secretary says police generally struck right balance between protest and Covid restrictions
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Your support makes all the difference.Dame Priti Patel has admitted to the Covid inquiry that the policing of a vigil for murdered marketing executive Sarah Everard was “totally inappropriate”.
The former home secretary said she was “dismayed” by the policing of the vigil in early 2021. The Metropolitan Police have since apologised and paid damages to two of those who were arrested.
However, Dame Priti said she felt the police generally struck the right balance between enforcing coronavirus restrictions and upholding people’s right to protest – despite such matters feeling “uncomfortable” at the time.
Earlier today, former top police chief Martin Hewitt criticised localised Covid rules, the speed at which they changed, and the tier system of different regulations for different areas of the country.
He told the inquiry that localised tiers made it “incredibly difficult for even a perfectly law-abiding and committed citizen to understand precisely what that meant for them in their own personal circumstances”, while having different regulations “on opposite sides of the same road” made policing more difficult.
Jun Pang, the policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, is also giving evidence to the inquiry.
Helen McNamara to appear at Covid inquiry
Helen McNamara is to appear at the Covid inquiry today.
Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff, Dominic Cummings, called Ms MacNamara a ‘c***’ in one message during the pandemic.
Mr Cummings made clear his views about how the “dysfunctional system” during a “meltdown of the British state” failed to deal with the crisis.
“The perception among the political team in No10 about the failings in the system, the failings of the civil service and the failings of different institutions was so extreme,” Ms McNamara has told the BBC. Their instinct, she claimed, was to “smash everything up”.
“We were systematically in real trouble.”
ICYMI - Ex-No10 chief admits he ‘disappeared’ messages in PM’s WhatsApps group chat
One of Boris Johnson’s key aides turned messages to “disappear” in a key Covid WhatsApp group only weeks after the ex-PM promised a Covid public inquiry, it has been revealed.
Martin Reynolds was grilled about switching the function to delete messages in the then-PM’s group April 2021 – just after Mr Johnson announced an inquiry – as he gave evidence on Monday.
Mr Reynolds, Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, told the inquiry he “cannot recall exactly why I did so” – before adding that he did not believe it was to “prevent” the inquiry having access to the messages.
The former No 10 official – dubbed “Party Marty” for his infamous ‘bring your own booze” drinks event email during Partygate – also said he was “deeply sorry” for his role in organising the garden party and Mr Johnson’s birthday gathering at No 10.
He said he was sorry for “my part in those events” and said he wanted to “apologise unreservedly to all the families of all those who suffered during Covid for all the distress caused”.
Ex-No10 chief admits he ‘disappeared’ messages in PM’s WhatsApps group chat
Boris Johnson’s former aide ‘Party Marty’ sorry for ‘bring your own booze’ event – and says he ‘cannot recall’ why he set messages to delete weeks after the Covid inquiry announced
A timeline of Dominic Cumming’s role in Downing Street
Dominic Cummings, the former chief adviser to then-prime minister Boris Johnson, is giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
Mr Cummings was one of Mr Johnson’s first appointments when he succeeded Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and PM in the summer 2019. His hiring was a signal to the hard-line Brexiteers who had ushered Mr Johnson to power that he was serious about delivering the withdrawal agreement from the European Union that his successor had failed to secure over months of tortuous negotiations.
A political strategist, Mr Cummings was an influential special adviser to Michael Gove between 2007 and 2014 before he became director of the Vote Leave campaign in 2015 and masterminded its victory in the Brexit referendum of 2016. He coined its “take back control” slogan and was seen as a divisive and outspoken figure who made enemies easily.
Portrayed as a visionary anti-establishment disrupter by Benedict Cumberbatch in the Channel 4 film Brexit: The Uncivil War, Mr Cummings was once described by David Cameron as a “career psychopath” and caused offence in Conservative circles by dishing out withering insults. He memorably labelled former Brexit secretary David Davis “thick as mince” and “lazy as a toad”, said the European Research Group were “useful idiots for Remain” and described the civil service as a “blob” of incompetence and bureaucracy.
Read the full report by Joe Sommerlad here
A timeline of Dominic Cummings’ career in Downing Street
Controversial political strategist testifying at UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Tuesday
Bombshell WhatsApp messages reveal Dominic Cummings’ secret foul-mouthed rants about Boris Johnson
Dominic Cummings branded Boris Johnson “exhausting” and in a foul-mouthed tirade said the cabinet was “useless f***pigs” in explosive WhatsApp messages revealed today at the Covid-19 inquiry.
In a pivotal day, Mr Johnson’s former communications chief Lee Cain gave evidence, followed by Mr Cummings, the former prime minister’s chief of staff during the pandemic.
Mr Cummings apologised to the inquiry for the “appalling” language he used in messages but said that he was reflecting “a widespread view” about the incompetence shown by ministers who were “dealing with this crisis extremely badly”.
The messages showed the disdain he held for his former boss Mr Johnson, as it was revealed Mr Cummings had to sit with him for “two hours just to stop him saying stupid s***”.
Mr Cummings coarse language was not limited to politicians as he denied being a misogynist after messages showed he called former top civil servant Helen MacNamara a “c***”.
Bombshell WhatsApp messages reveal Cummings’ secret foul-mouthed rants about Johnson
Dominic Cummings said in a meeting with Boris Johnson he had to explain ‘the same thing 10 f****** times and he still won’t absorb it’
A rundown of day two of the inquiry
- Mr Johnson believed Covid was “a hoax” and “pathetic”, no worse than swine flu, and that it was nature’s way of dealing with the elderly
- No 10 staff had derided the dithering PM as “the trolley”, as he changed direction so often
- Mr Johnson took the “pretty insane” decision to go on holiday in February 2020, one month before lockdown
- There was “no plan” for how to protect vulnerable people from the virus
- Mr Johnson admitted there had been a “totally disgusting orgy of narcissism by a government that should be solving a national crisis”
- Mr Cummings said in a message that he wanted to “personally handcuff” the UK’s most powerful female mandarin, as he called her a “c***”
- In November 2020 Mr Cummings blocked Mr Johnson on WhatsApp after the then PM pleaded for briefings against his government to stop
Boris Johnson’s handling of Covid crisis slammed by former top advisers
Boris Johnson’s one-time closest advisers lined up to slam his leadership during the Covid pandemic as he was blasted for his handling of the crisis.
In an extraordinary day of evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry, it was revealed that the former prime minister’s chief aide, Dominic Cummings, had described the constant change of strategy as “exhausting” and branded his cabinet “useless f***pigs” in explosive WhatsApp messages.
Mr Cummings said Mr Johnson did not think Covid was a “big deal”, while the hearing was also told that the then PM was “obsessed” with the idea that older people should be allowed to catch the virus and accept their “fate” in order to keep the economy open.
Boris Johnson’s handling of Covid crisis slammed by former top advisers
Ex-PM thought Coronavirus was ‘nature’s way of dealing with old people’, inquiry hears, as bereaved relatives attack ‘psychotic’ comments
Dominic Cummings denies misogyny claims despite obscene sexist rant at UK’s most powerful female mandarin
Dominic Cummings has insisted he is not a misogynist despite referring to a top civil servant as “that c***” in a series of foul-mouthed messages to Boris Johnson.
In an astonishing day of testimony at the Covid inquiry, shedding new light on a culture of sexism at the heart of the former prime minister’s government, Mr Cummings apologised for the “deplorable” language and even claimed he “was much ruder about men”.
To audible gasps, the inquiry was shown Mr Cummings’ WhatsApp texts about then deputy cabinet-secretary Helen MacNamara from 2020, in which he said he would “handcuff her and escort her” from Downing Street.
Counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith KC put it to Mr Johnson’s former adviser yesterday that he “denigrated women”, to which he replied: “No, that’s not correct. I was not misogynistic.”
Dominic Cummings denies misogyny claims despite obscene sexist rant
The offensive messages shed new light on a culture of sexism at the heart of Boris Johnson’s Covid government
Watch: Cummings and Cain provide worrying insight into No 10
Today’s sitting of the Covid-19 Inquiry saw expletive-filled text messages between Dominic Cummings and former prime minister Boris Johnson unveiled publicly.
In the messages, Cummings, who was then-adviser to Johnson, appeared to be growing frustrated with the Cabinet Office, referring to it as ‘s***’, and the delays to introducing further lockdown measures they were allegedly causing.
He also accused Johnson of saying ‘stupid s****’ and described former health secretary Matt Hancock as the ‘c*** in charge of NHS’.
The inquiry continues to look into the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Sophie Thompson reports:
Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings provide worrying insight into No 10
Today’s sitting of the Covid-19 Inquiry saw expletive-filled text messages between Dominic Cummings and former prime minister Boris Johnson unveiled publicly. In the messages, Cummings, who was then-adviser to Johnson, appeared to be growing frustrated with the Cabinet Office, referring to it as ‘s***’, and the delays to introducing further lockdown measures they were allegedly causing. He also accused Johnson of saying ‘stupid s****’ and described former health secretary Matt Hancock as the ‘c*** in charge of NHS’. The inquiry continues to look into the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Watch: Rishi Sunak compared handling Covid to the film Jaws
Boris Johnson’s handling of Covid crisis slammed by former top advisers
Boris Johnson’s one-time closest advisers lined up to slam his leadership during the Covid pandemic as he was blasted for his handling of the crisis.
In an extraordinary day of evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry, the former prime minister’s chief aide Dominic Cummings described the constant change of strategy as “exhausting” and branded his cabinet “useless f***pigs” in explosive WhatsApp messages.
Mr Cummings said that Mr Johnson did not think Covid was a “big deal”, while the hearing was also told that then-PM was “obsessed” with the idea older people should be allowed to catch the virus and accept their “fate” to keep the economy open.
Kate Devlin and Archie Mitchell report:
Boris Johnson’s handling of Covid crisis slammed by former top advisers
Ex-PM thought Coronavirus was ‘nature’s way of dealing with old people’ inquiry hears, as bereaved relatives attack ‘psychotic’ comments
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