Covid inquiry: What we learnt this week
BMJ 2023; 383 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2652 (Published 10 November 2023) Cite this as: BMJ 2023;383:p2652
Chickenpox was not a helpful analogue
Giving evidence on 8 November,1 Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, apologised for proposing in private that a “chickenpox party” approach, to deliberately exposed people to SARS-CoV-2, might be necessary. Sedwill said he understood the proposal now sounded “heartless and thoughtless.” He insisted that “at no point” did he believe covid “was of the same seriousness as chickenpox” but said he made the comment during an early discussion about herd immunity, before meetings in March 2020 where the government realised a change of approach was needed. When Ben Warner, another official, challenged what he said, Sedwill accepted that the analogue was confusing and unhelpful.
Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with covid live on TV
In a witness statement Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Edward Udny-Lister confirmed that in early March 2020 Johnson suggested to civil servants and advisers that he wanted to be injected with the virus live on television to demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat.2 Appearing before the inquiry on 7 November Udny-Lister said that the former prime minister’s suggestion was an “unfortunate comment.”3
Sunak and Johnson pushed against autumn 2020 lockdown
Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson both pushed repeatedly against enforcing another national lockdown during the second wave of covid in autumn 2020, the inquiry heard. Evidence shown during the testimony of Simon Ridley, former head of the Cabinet Office’s covid taskforce, revealed that the government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, had accused Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, of using “spurious” arguments against new restrictions.4 Another national lockdown was not imposed until early January 2021. Ridley told the inquiry that the Treasury’s controversial “eat out to help out” scheme that Sunak launched to boost the hospitality industry was imposed without consulting the government’s covid taskforce.
Downing Street had a “toxic” atmosphere
In messages disclosed to the inquiry the UK’s two most senior civil servants at the time described Number 10 under Boris Johnson as “toxic” and “mad.”5 In July 2020 Simon Case, the then head official in the Cabinet Office, wrote to civil service chief Sedwill, “I’ve never seen a bunch of people less well equipped to run a country.” Case, who subsequently succeeded Sedwill as cabinet secretary and is still in the post, said he had told Johnson that many senior officials wanted to avoid working in Downing Street “because of the toxic reputation of his operation.”
Matt Hancock was unpopular with officials
In private messages exchanged with Case, Sedwill said the Boris Johnson should sack health secretary Matt Hancock “to save lives and protect the NHS.” Sedwill acknowledged that officials believed there to be a general problem with Hancock and his truthfulness and candour but described this specific comment as “gallows humour,” playing as it did on the government’s “stay home, protect the NHS, save lives” pandemic slogan.
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