These are the key things we learned on the most compelling and foul-mouthed day of the Covid inquiry so far:
Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, noted that Johnson favoured “older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life”. As the prime minister was resisting reimposing restrictions in December 2020, Vallance wrote: “He [Johnson] says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them’.”
The prime minister’s top adviser was asked about how much No 10 considered ethnic minority groups, domestic abuse victims and others in the run-up to imposing a national lockdown. Cummings said: “I would say that that entire question was almost entirely appallingly neglected by the entire planning system.” He added: “The Cabinet Office was essentially trying to block us creating a shielding plan.”
In May 2020, he warned Johnson about the health secretary: “Hancock is unfit for this job. The incompetence, the constant lies, the obsession with media bullshit over doing his job. Still no fucking serious testing in care homes his uselessness is still killing God knows how many.” By August 2020 Cummings told Johnson he was creating the perception that he was “happy to have useless fuckpigs in charge”. He claimed Hancock was a “proven liar”. And he accused Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS in England, of “bullshitting”. He also said Gavin Williamson’s position as education secretary was not sustainable after a U-turn over teacher-assessed exam grades.
He claimed MacNamara’s propriety and ethics teams “waste huge amounts of time”. In a WhatsApp message to the No 10 communications director, Lee Cain, he said he would “personally handcuff her and escort her from the building”. He added: “I don’t care how it is done but that woman must be out of our hair – we cannot keep dealing with this horrific meltdown of the British state while dodging stilettos from that cunt.” Cummings suggested moving MacNamara to the communities department where she could build “millions of lovely houses”. Cummings denied his comments were misogynistic. “I was much ruder about men,” he told the inquiry.
When Cummings was asked to leave Downing Street in November 2020, he complained to Johnson about briefings from those close to his then fiancee, Carrie Symonds. Johnson told him: “You speak of briefings from team Carrie. She hasn’t briefed anyone and my instructions to all were to shut the fuck up.” The PM also accused Cummings of briefing that Symonds was shaping lockdown policy. He said: “This is a totally disgusting orgy of narcissism by a government that should be solving a national crisis. We must end this.”
He confirmed the day of the Barnard Castle trip was his wife’s birthday. But he added: “The handling of it was a disaster and caused huge pain to a lot of people that I very much regret. But in terms of my actual actions in going north … I acted entirely reasonably and legally, and did not break any rules.” Cummings appeared to regret little about his time at No 10, apart from the language in his messages. His last words to the session were: “I should apologise for my terrible language.” WhatsApp messages shared with the inquiry showed Mr Johnson claiming that his adviser had never told him he had gone to Durham. In messages dated 19 July 2021, Johnson said: “Cummings a total and utter liar. He never told me he had gone to Durham during lockdown … He never told me. I then tried my very best to defend him.”
The former director of communications at No 1o told the inquiry the then-chancellor’s scheme “made absolutely no sense whatsoever”. He said it undermined the government’s message about Covid. He told the inquiry: “What are we signalling to the public? … Go back out, get back to work, crowd yourself on to trains, go into restaurants and enjoy pizzas with friends and family – really build up that social mixing. Now, that is fine if you are intent on never having to do suppression measures again – but from all the evidence we are receiving … it was incredibly clear that we were going to have to do suppression measures again.”
He blamed the mistake on the lack of diversity in government. In his written evidence to the inquiry, 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 of 20 people.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
