Covid inquiry live: Hancock ‘wanted to decide who should live or die if NHS became overwhelmed’
Lord Simon Stevens says Cabinet ministers ‘avoided’ Cobra meetings chaired by then-health secretary
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Ex-health secretary Matt Hancock believed that he – rather than doctors or the public – should decide “who should live and who should die” if hospitals became overwhelmed with Covid patients, the former NHS chief executive has said.
Lord Simon Stevens said that “fortunately this horrible dilemma never crystallised”, as he told the Covid inquiry on Thursday that it would have to look “very carefully” at the issue of asymptomatic Covid patients being discharged from hospitals into care homes.
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock, who was health secretary at the start of the Covid outbreak, told Public Health England’s then medical director Yvonne Doyle “not to patronise him” when she warned that the virus could be in the UK, she told the inquiry.
She said she was barred from doing media interviews for a time after that, and apologised to him, even though she had been telling the truth.
It comes a day after former top civil servant and ethics chief Helen MacNamara said the “female perspective” was missed during the pandemic as she condemned a “toxic” and “macho” culture at the highest levels of Mr Johnson’s government.
Matt Hancock wanted to decide who should live and who should die during Covid – former NHS boss
An unhappy struggle between panto and principle: the Covid inquiry’s winners and losers so far
Matt Hancock told Public Health England director ‘not to patronise him’
Boris Johnson’s No 10 was toxic, sexist and devoid of humanity, says former top civil servant
Cummings: Johnson preferred to be in his study over Cobra meetings
Cummings tells the inquiryJohnson “preferred to be in his study” over attending emergency Cobra meetings on Covid.
The then-prime minister “wasn’t enormously keen” on Cobra, his former chief adviser added.
Asked by inquiry lead counsel Hugo Keith KC whether Mr Johnson was averse to attending the meeting because of its physical location, Mr Cummings said: “It’s hard to say. I mean, he certainly preferred to be in his study and he didn’t like going to Cobra.”
Cummings: ‘Multiple reasons’ Cobra didn’t work well during pandemic
The evidence session has resumed and Mr Keith is now asking Cummings about the role of government Cobra meetings during the pandemic.
Cummings tells the inquiry the emergency committee did not work well during the crisis for “multiple reasons”.
He says one reason is that the data going into Cobra meeting is “strictly controlled” for national security concerns. Cummings adds the committee was used to dealing with “relatively small things” - like “floods” and “terror attacks” with just a few people involved - rather than national crises.
Daughter who lost her father to Covid-19 hopes and prays lessons are learned
Deborah Lewis the founder of bereaved Covid19 Families UK expressed her concerns live on Sky News, she says she is still unable to get closure from losing her father.
She said: “More should have been done sooner, maybe more of our relatives would have survived.
“The bereaved, we all know we cannot bring our loved ones back but what we can do is hope and pray that lessons are learned so people in the future don’t have to go through the devastation and heartache that we’ve been through
“We are still in tears, heartbroken, and unable to move on because of the government’s actions.”
Grieving daughter says she ‘feels like she’s been punched in the stomach’ after reading Johnson’s comments
Brenda Doherty, whose mother died aged 82 in March 2020 after contracting Covid-19 in hospital, said reading comments made by Boris Johnson about older people in the pandemic was like being “punched in the stomach”.
Speaking as part of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK campaign group, she accused the former prime minister of having had a “callous and brutal attitude”.
She said: “I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach after reading Boris Johnson’s messages this morning.
“They are psychotic.”
She added: “He clearly didn’t see people like my mum as human beings, and thousands others died unnecessarily after the same mistakes were repeated because of Johnson’s callous and brutal attitude.
“I’d do anything to spend another day with my mum, and now we know that we might have had years and years together if only the country had a more humane prime minister when the pandemic struck.”
Government made ‘huge blunder’ on Rashford meals campaign, inquiry hears
The Government made a “huge blunder” around the Marcus Rashford free school meals campaign, a former key adviser to Boris Johnson said, as he lamented the lack of diversity among policymakers.
The then-prime minister was told “hungry children” were not the place to start when considering restraint on public finances in the pandemic, former No 10 director of communications Lee Cain said.
Mr Cain said there had been a clear lack of diversity in the prime minister’s top team when it came to informing policy and decision-making.
In a written statement to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Mr Cain said: “I remember asking in the Cabinet Room of 20 people, how many people had received free school meals. Nobody had – resulting in a policy and political blind spot. This was a huge blunder.
“The PM (to some degree understandably) said we needed to draw a line in the sand on public spending commitments, but this was clearly not the place to draw that line – something the PM was told by his senior team.”
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Mr Cain said: “It’s quite clear that there were challenges of gender diversity, socio-economic diversity and ethnic minority diversity at the very top of the PM’s top team.”
Watch - Cummings said ‘pretty much everyone’ called Boris Johnson ‘the trolley’ during pandemic
Cummings: ‘Cabinet Office was a bomb site and dumpster fire’
Dominic Cummings described the Cabinet Office as a “bomb site” and a “dumpster fire” when he took up his role as adviser to Boris Johnson, in his evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
Dominic Cummings said an “overall dysfunctional system” was in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked if there was any part of the Government machine in which he “did not find fault”, Mr Cummings replied: “In the summer of 2020 I spent a lot of time talking to special forces and I found that they were exceptional.”
After Mr Keith told him to focus on the structure in place that was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Cummings said: “I would say, overall, it’s widespread failure but pockets of excellent people and pockets of excellent teams doing excellent work within an overall dysfunctional system.”
Cummings: ‘Pretty much everyone called Boris Johnson the trolley'
Dominic Cummings has said “pretty much everyone” called Boris Johnson the trolley during the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.
The ex-PM’s then chief of staff was asked at the Covid inquiry about how he, the cabinet secretary, his director of communications and others used the term “about his propensity to change direction”.
Mr Cummings replied: “Pretty much everyone called him the trolley.”
Cummings: Dysfunctional government had pockets of excellent people
Dominic Cummings said there were “pockets of excellent people and pockets of excellent teams doing excellent work” in government during the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.
But the former Downing Street chief of staff said these were embedded in “an overall dysfunctional system”.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments