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

Covid inquiry roundup: Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings provide worrying insight into No 10

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.

Key Points

• Matt Hancock ‘wanted to choose who lived or died if NHS overwhelmed'
• Revealed: Ministers braced for 840,000 Covid deaths
• Hancock told medical chief not to ‘patronise’ him by telling truth
• Watch: Ministers ‘avoided’ Cobra meetings chaired by Matt Hancock

[2 November 2023 09:30 · Andy Gregory]

Ex-NHS and PHE chiefs to appear before Covid inquiry

Today, the Covid inquiry is set to hear from former NHS England chief executive officer Sir Simon Stevens, former Public Health England medical director Professor Yvonne Doyle, and the permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, Sir Christopher Wormald.

Proceedings are due to start at 10am.

It follows several days of explosive and expletive-laden testimony from former No 10 advisers Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, and former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara.

[2 November 2023 08:56 · Andy Gregory]

Covid inquiry ‘deeply painful’, says MP

SNP MP John Nicolson, whose mother died during the pandemic, has described Boris Johnson as “ghoulish” and said he found the inquiry “deeply painful”.

[2 November 2023 08:19 · Andy Gregory]

Officials thought UV rays could be ‘very helpful’ in stemming Covid, says ex-civil servant

Ultraviolet (UV) rays were at one stage thought could be “very helpful” to minimise the spread of Covid, according to a former civil servant, in a revelation reminiscent of similar claims by then US president Donald Trump.

Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary, recalled a conversation she had with Professor Sir Chris Whitty – England’s chief medical officer (CMO) – during the early weeks of the pandemic.

In her written statement to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Ms MacNamara wrote under a section called “winter planning”: “I remember standing in the No 10 garden with the CMO at some time in the late spring and him saying that it looked like UV rays were very helpful to minimise the spread of Covid.

“Although this was undoubtedly good news, Chris did not want to overstate the impact and the potential benefit at a point when we still needed people to follow the guidance and not to socialise.

“He was worried that if the prime minister was told he would be too enthusiastic about reducing restrictions too quickly.

“We discussed how hard the winter 2020/21 might be; especially given that people would not have been exposed to the usual flu bugs circulating so we could be in for both a hard winter if Covid continued to circulate plus a hard flu winter with an NHS that had not had a break.”

[2 November 2023 06:30 · Matt Mathers]

Matt Hancock’s bizarre ‘batsman’ response to being offered help during the pandemic

One of Britain’s most senior civil servants during the pandemic has revealed a cringe-inducing exchange with Matt Hancock in which he pretended to be a cricketer after she offered to help him with his role.

At the official Covid inquiry, counsel Andrew O’Connor KC asked about Helen MacNamara’s attempts to support Mr Hancock’s return to work after suffering from Covid.

Archie Mitchell reports:

[2 November 2023 05:30 · Matt Mathers]

Boris Johnson’s No 10 was toxic, sexist and devoid of humanity, says ex-top civil servant

Boris Johnson oversaw a “toxic” culture of sexism and complacency at No 10 during the Covid crisis, according to scathing evidence given by a former top civil servant to the public inquiry.

Helen MacNamara, former deputy cabinet secretary, said she could not recall “one day” when Covid rules were followed at No 10 or the Cabinet Office – claiming “hundreds” of officials and ministers broke the guidelines.

Adam Forrest and Archie Mitchell report:

[2 November 2023 04:30 · Matt Mathers]

So, ‘Party Marty’, why were No 10’s WhatsApp messages set to disappear?

Former Boris Johnson aide Martin Reynolds struggled to answer questions at the Covid inquiry today. But with Dominic Cummings about to give evidence, it could be Johnson and Rishi Sunak who will soon be doing the squirming, writes Sean O’Grady.

Read Sean’s full piece below:

[2 November 2023 03:30 · Matt Mathers]

Dominic Cummings: A timeline of Boris Johnson’s ex-chief adviser’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.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

[2 November 2023 02:30 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Boris Johnson’s chaotic ‘flip-flopping’ made it ‘impossible’ to tackle Covid, advisers’ messages reveal

Scathing WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson’s top team accused the former PM of creating chaos during the Covid crisis – complaining that he “flip-flopped” every day on direction and made it “impossible” to tackle the pandemic.

A series of startling new revelations emerged at the Covid inquiry, as messages shared between cabinet secretary Simon Case, chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance and top adviser Dominic Cummings exposed the disdain they held for Mr Johnson.

Adam Forrest and Archie Mitchell report:

[2 November 2023 01:30 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Cummings’ rant to Johnson about Cabinet Office revealed during Covid Inquiry

Dominic Cummings’ expletive-filled rant about the Cabinet Office has been shown in today’s Covid Inquiry sitting (31 October), where he revealed he had grown tired of Boris Johnson going ‘Jaws mode’.

‘We got big problems coming. CABOFF [sic] is terrifyingly s***’, he wrote in messages to the then-prime minister.

In the texts, it appeared that Cummings was putting pressure on Johnson to announce stricter legislation surrounding Covid, but insisted the Cabinet was delaying it as they ‘hadn’t done the work’ and ‘don’t work weekends’.

Watch the messages being read out here:

[2 November 2023 00:30 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Scottish government to hand over 14,000-plus messages to UK Covid Inquiry

The Scottish government is to share more than 14,000 messages with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry – with first minister Humza Yousaf to hand over unredacted WhatsApp messages, MSPs have been told.

In a statement at Holyrood, deputy first minister Shona Robison confirmed the Scottish Government had received a legal notice permitting it to hand over the messages on Monday.