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
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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
ICYMI: The five key questions Boris Johnson must answer when he takes the stand at the Covid inquiry
The inquiry so far has been about settling scores rather than learning lessons – it badly needs to rise to the task when the former prime minister eventually slouches to the witness stand, writes John Rentoul.
Read John’s full piece here:
The five key questions Boris Johnson must answer at the Covid inquiry | John Rentoul
The inquiry so far has been about settling scores rather than learning lessons – it badly needs to rise to the task when the former prime minister eventually slouches to the witness stand, writes John Rentoul
Welsh government WhatsApp messages during Covid may have been deleted, Drakeford says
Some WhatsApp messages between Welsh government officials or ministers relating to the Covid pandemic may have been deleted, first minister Mark Darkeford has admitted.
He was answering questions on Monday as the Covid inquiry in London heard evidence.
“I think the fairer way of putting it is the deletion may have taken place.
I know in my case, I’ve never had any deletion arrangements on the phone because I would have no idea how to make it happen, but I don’t use WhatsApp,” he said in response to a question from Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies.
"So I think what I don’t want to say is that they were not some people working in the Welsh government and working on Covid, who didn’t have pre-existing arrangements, which continued after Covid began.
“But as soon as we were aware that the inquiry would be interested in material of that sort that was stored on phones, there was no move to delete it once we knew the inquiry would be taking an interest in it".
ICYMI: Johnson said Treasury was ‘pro death squad’
On Monday, the Covid inquiry heard that Boris Johnson joked that the Treasury was the “pro-death” squad during the pandemic because it wanted to ease lockdown restrictions quickly to get the economy going again.
The comment was recorded in the diary of Sir Patrick Vallance, the former chief scientific adviser, who also said the former PM wanted all lockdown restrictions lifted by September 2020.
Archie Mitchell and Adam Forrest report:
Boris called the Treasury the ‘pro-death squad’ during Covid pandemic, inquiry hears
No 10 took no advice on ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ and Treasury had no estimated cost of lockdown, inquiry hears
Cummings: Sedwill’s departure ‘set off bomb’ across Whitehall
As we reported earlier, Lord Sedwill’s departure from Downing Street was described by Dominic Cummings as like setting off “a kind of bomb across the whole system”.
Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, made the comment while giving evidence to the inquiry himself at the end of last month.
During his evidence, Cummings also claimed that he had “begged” the former prime minister not to sack Lord Sedwill, who left government in June 2020 amid reports of a rift between him and Cummings.
Sophie Wingate has a full report on what else Cummings said about his former colleague:
Cummings: Sedwill’s departure ‘set off bomb’ across Whitehall
Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser told the Covid-19 Inquiry he ‘begged’ the then-prime minister not to effectively sack the top civil servant.
Who is Mark Sedwill?
The former diplomat was running the civil service when the pandemic struck but resigned in September 2020. Last week, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings told the inquiry that Lord Sedwill losing his job "set off a kind of bomb across the whole system".
Lord Sedwill left government in June 2020, having been reportedly sidelined by Cummmings.
Giving evidence to the inquiry last week, Cummings said he had "begged" the then-prime minister not to effectively sack the career civil servant, despite using obscenities to describe him in WhatsApp messages. Lord Sedwill was also at the centre of allegations made by the Vote Leave strategist about a plan to encourage people to hold the equivalent of "chicken pox parties" to promote herd immunity.
A WhatsApp message from Cummings, dated March 12 2020, in which he complained: "Sedwill babbling about chickenpox god f****** help us", was shown to the inquiry last week. Lord Sedwill left his job after criticism from the former adviser, who said the official "hasn’t a scooby whats going on".
On Tuesday, the inquiry heard Lord Sedwill’s replacement, Simon Case, complained to his predecessor that people working in No 10 were "mad" and "poisonous" as he prepared for the role. Before he was appointed cabinet secretary, Case told Lord Sedwill: "These people are so mad. Not poisonous towards me (yet), but they are just madly self-defeating."
He said many "top-drawer people" he had asked to replace No 10 official Tom Shinner "refused to come because of the toxic reputation of his operation".
Former cabinet secretary to appear at Covid inquiry
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the Covid inquiry.
Lord Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary, is due to give evidence later this morning.
He will appear before the inquiry at 10am and will be followed by Justin Tomlinson, the Tory MP for North Swindon and former minister for disabled people, at 2pm.
Stay tuned for the latest updates.
ICYMI: Officials expressed ‘serious concerns’ about NHS patients being discharged into care homes
The Covid inquiry has heard that multiple officials raised “quite serious concerns” about NHS patients being discharged into care homes.
At the end of March and beginning of April 2020, Simon Ridley told the inquiry there was an aim to get 15,000 people discharged from hospitals into social care settings to free up capacity in the health service.
But the inquiry’s lead counsel Hugo Keith KC has shown evidence that a number of officials raised concerns about asymptomatic patients spreading the disease into care homes.
The inquiry was then shown an email from a No10 official on April 3, who said the government should consider “more extreme measures or guidance”.
“Given that once someone gets it in one of these places, many die,” the email said.
“We were concerned that there were problems in the care sector that needed to be addressed extremely quickly,” said Mr Ridley, who was head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce.
ICYMI: ‘Covid taskforce was not asked about Eat out to Help Out scheme,’ Simon Ridley
Simon Ridley has told the Covid inquiry he was not consulted about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme during the pandemic.
That “was decided by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor”, the former head of the Covid-19 taskforce said.
A surprised lead counsel Hugo Keith KC said: “You were the single body tasked with sensitising the policy and strategy for responding to the virus and giving advice to the government telling them how it should be responded to.”
“You must have been extraordinarily concerned,” he added.
Mr Ridley squirmed over his answer, before saying: “Things happen that surprise… we were focused on the advice we could give.”
Mr Keith said: “Because you were effectively blindsided by the Treasury and there was nothing you could do?” “Correct,” Mr Ridley said.
Ed Lister: WhatsApp messages seen in inquiry are ‘appalling’
Lord Lister has told inquiry chair Baroness Hallett that some of the WhatsApp messages she has been shown so far are “pretty appalling”.
Baroness Hallett asked what could be done in future to avoid personality clashes which were a theme in Downing Street during the pandemic.
Lord Lister, Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff, told her: “I think there should have been clearer lines, clearer responsibilities, and I think that would have eased the situation.
“I also think people needed to be treated a little bit more respectfully than they were. Some of those WhatsApp messages, you’ve seen them, are pretty appalling.
“And that’s something that I felt very uncomfortable with.”
Boris Johnson said we should ‘let the bodies pile high’ rather than impose another lockdown
Boris Johnson said he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown in September 2020, Lord Lister has confirmed.
The ex-PM’s then chief of staff told the Covid inquiry it was an “unfortunate turn of phrase” but the government was trying to avoid a further lockdown “given the already severe impact on the economy and education”.
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