Former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance revealed there was ‘complete lack of leadership’ at times in crisis
Vallance says that some of what he was doing during Covid would have been done by anyone else in the post of government chief scientific adviser (GCSA).
But he says because of his medical training, and his knowledge of vaccines (he had worked for GlaxoSmithKline before taking the GCSA job), he was probably more involved than another GCSA might have been.
Continue reading...PM would almost certainly have known concerns over ‘eat out to help out’ scheme, says former chief scientific adviser
Rishi Sunak would almost certainly have known scientists were worried about his “eat out to help out” scheme during the pandemic, Sir Patrick Vallance has said, directly contradicting the prime minister’s evidence to the Covid inquiry.
In potentially damaging testimony, Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, said he would be “very surprised” if Sunak had not learned about objections to his plan to help the hospitality industry.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he finds prospect of march ‘disrespectful’ but says freedom includes ‘right to peacefully protest’
Keith is only now asking about Covid. All the questions so far have been about process.
Sedwill says, when concerns about Covid arose, he did not agree to a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee taking place immediately. He wanted to ensure that the meeting was prepared for. And he was concerned that having a Cobra meeting might alarm people.
I felt that a Cobra which might have been convened primarily for communications purposes wasn’t wise. Two days later I was advised there was a genuine cross-government basis for it and I agreed.
May we be plain please as to what you mean by communications purposes. Were you concerned that the Cobra was being called by the DHSC [the Department of Health and Social Care] for presentation purposes, that is to say to make a splash about the role of DHSC, perhaps its secretary of state [Matt Hancock], and that’s why you initially hesitated.
Continue reading...Labour party leader criticises speech as ‘admission that government has no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline’
Here is Ben Quinn’s guide to what will be in the king’s speech.
In a statement about the king’s speech issued overnight, Keir Starmer said:
Britain is crying out for the long-term change that harnesses the ambition of our young people, the innovative drive of our businesses, and the ordinary hope and optimism that exists around every kitchen table.
A government acting in the national interest would deliver a big build programme to kickstart growth in every region and begin to turn around 13 years of decline with a plan for a decade of national renewal.
Continue reading...Covid investigation also told taskforce coordinating pandemic policy had no warning of ‘eat out to help out’
Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson pushed repeatedly against lockdown measures during the second wave of Covid in autumn 2020, with the government’s chief scientist accusing the then chancellor of using “spurious” arguments against new rules, the inquiry into the pandemic has heard.
In a day of evidence that placed increasing focus on Sunak’s role, the inquiry also heard that his flagship “eat out to help out” hospitality scheme was imposed without consulting the government’s Covid taskforce, leaving officials “blindsided” by the Treasury.
Continue reading...Former deputy cabinet secretary tells Covid inquiry Hancock’s plans never materialised despite assurances
Back in the inquiry, O’Connor presents another extract from MacNamara’s witness statement in which she quotes an account by Dominic Cummings who recalls her coming into the office on Friday 13 March saying that the country was “absolutely fucked” and that thousands of people were going to die. Cummings has cited this as a very positive intervention that helped to trigger an urgent rethink.
MacNamara says this is an accurate account. She said she had been in meetings that day, including a briefing for the opposition, and that she had been “more alarmed rather than reassured” by what she had heard from the government side. She says it was alarming.
And it was a sense of foreboding, like I hope nobody sitting in that office ever has that again. Actually, it was a very, very scary experience. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind at that point that we were heading for a total disaster. And what we had to do was do everything in our power to make it impact as little as possible in the time we had available in the circumstances.
Helen right that the Cabinet Office has failed to follow the orders given in 2020 to keep records of everything. I asked for this to happen. So did Helen. Yet the Cabinet Office has destroyed a lot of documents – eg some documents that I have accidental copies of do not show up in official records.
Agree with Helen that the ‘world-beating’, ‘we’re best prepared in world’ etc mindset was a nightmare, delusional. I’d go further than has and say this general approach definitely undermined an effective response. But also important to note – this was not just Boris, this was the attitude of *DHSC and Cabinet Office* on pandemic preparations too.
MSM largely useless coverage of Inquiry, obsessed on trivia, determined as always to ignore management/structures & how power worked & still works … I’ll post updates on Inquiry, other witnesses etc
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser denies contributing to an atmosphere of misogyny at No 10, saying he was ‘much ruder about men’
Heather Hallett, the chair, intervenes at this point. She asks Cain if he is defending the 10-day gap. She says she finds that curious if he is.
Cain says locking down the country is a huge, huge undertaking. In government terms, that is government acting at speed. But it was “longer than you would hope”, he says.
Do I understand from what you said earlier that you would defend the 10-day gap between the decision taken that there had to be a national lockdown and actually implementing that decision? Because I find that curious.
As I said, I think it is longer than you would like, but I think it’s important just to emphasise the amount of things that had to be done and the amount of people we had to take with us to deliver a nationwide lockdown.
It’s a huge, huge undertaking and to be honest, from my understanding of government, that is government moving at a tremendous speed – which maybe says more about government than other things.
Continue reading...Inquiry told of comments made by former prime minister during meeting discussing pandemic response
Boris Johnson asked why damage was being inflicted on the economy during the pandemic “for people who will die anyway soon” in a meeting with Rishi Sunak, the Covid inquiry was told on Monday.
At the start of what is set to be a bruising week for the former prime minister, with former political aides and senior civil servants to give evidence on his government’s handling of the pandemic, the diary of a former private secretary revealed the damaging remarks made in March 2020.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s former principal private secretary is first of ex-prime minister’s inner circle to give evidence to inquiry
Keith shows a WhatsApp message from Simon Case, the cabinet secretary. It is date 20 December 2021 and in it Case says:
PM is mad if he doesn’t think his WhatsApps will become public via Covid inquiry – but he was clearly not in the mood for that discussion tonight! We’ll have that battle in the new year.
Continue reading...Marina Wheeler KC to be tasked with strengthening rights to safeguard women who report workplace harassment
A leading barrister and ex-wife of Boris Johnson is set to be appointed as Labour’s new “whistleblowing tsar”, offering advice on proposed protections for women against workplace harassment.
Marina Wheeler KC will help the party with its plans to strengthen employment rights to safeguard women from abusive colleagues, the Independent reported.
Continue reading...Chief scientific adviser in 2020 found the ex-PM ‘completely inconsistent’ in his evidence to the Covid inquiry
Boris Johnson’s decision-making during the coronavirus pandemic was described as “bipolar” and “completely inconsistent” by Sir Patrick Vallance, the Covid inquiry has heard.
The government’s then chief scientific adviser acknowledged his frustration in his diary entries, which he has submitted to the panel as evidence, at the “chaos” in Downing Street and Johnson’s “flip-flopping” when making decisions about restrictions.
Continue reading...Exclusive: PM claims he has changed phone since running the Treasury and did not back up the messages
Rishi Sunak has failed to hand over his WhatsApp messages from his time as chancellor to the Covid inquiry despite the high court ruling that ministers should disclose their communications for scrutiny.
In his witness statement to the public inquiry, seen by the Guardian, the prime minister claimed that he did “not have access” to the messages during the period running the Treasury because he had changed his phone several times and failed to back them up.
Continue reading...PM says people to be given more time to switch gas boilers to heat pumps, and ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars delayed
Climate scientists have expressed dismay at reports that Rishi Sunak is to row back on net zero commitments, arguing that this would be harmful not just environmentally, but economically too.
Prof Myles Allen, professor of geosystem sciences at Oxford University, said:
We haven’t heard the actual speech yet, but we all have to hope the PM is true to his word that he is looking for better ways to deliver net zero, not just slower ways. As we have found time and again in Britain, dithering costs money. The USA is seeing other countries’ faltering as an opportunity to get ahead. It will be sad indeed if we just see it as an opportunity to join the laggards.
It’s not pragmatic, it’s pathetic. This rolling back on emissions cuts for short-term political gain will undermine the transition to net zero and with it the future opportunities, prosperity and safety of the entire country.
Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide which causes global warming which amplifies the consequences of extreme weather events, as we have so clearly seen this summer. Climate change will continue until we reach net zero globally, and we will then have to suffer the consequences of that warmer world for decades or more. It also matters how we reach net zero, not just when – delaying action means more emissions which means more severe consequences.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak’s government seen as less competent that Boris Johnson’s administration
The UK economy is set to witness the highest inflation rate of the world’s G7 advanced economies this year, according to new forecasts, PA Media reports. PA says:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also increased its predicted average UK inflation rate for 2023 compared with its previous estimate.
Economists at the globally recognised organisation also reduced their UK growth forecast slightly for next year amid pressure from higher interest rates.
Continue reading...Former PM says west is dragging its feet in support for Ukraine and calls for urgent supply of weaponry in Spectator column
Boris Johnson has attacked the government over its policy on Ukraine, saying it should urgently provide more weaponry requested by Kyiv and asking the west: “What the hell are we waiting for?”
The former prime minister, who formed a close relationship with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy after the outbreak of the war with Russia, called on the UK to provide howitzers – an artillery weapon – Storm Shadow cruise missiles and “as much help as we can give them with drone technology”.
Continue reading...Dan Rosenfield decides to sit as independent after being nominated by former PM in resignation honours list
Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Dan Rosenfield has decided not to sit on the Conservative benches following his elevation to the Lords in a move that has outraged some Tories, with one saying it made the former prime minister “look like a chump”.
Rosenfield, a former Treasury official, was one of several ex-aides nominated in June for peerages in Johnson’s resignation honours list.
Continue reading...As both Labour and Conservatives ponder their green policy, we look back at the Tories’ propensity to promise much – and deliver little
Conservative party support for environmental causes has generally been vocal at election time but hesitant and half-hearted in power. On one hand, the party – with the exception of a few hardcore climate crisis deniers – has never reached the total opposition to green causes that disfigures rightwing parties in other nations, in particular the US Republicans. On the other, it has generally failed to enact the kind of legislation that would allow the UK to take a global lead in the battle against global heating, as can be seen from the records of three recent Tory prime ministers.
Continue reading...Former prime minister condemns ‘procrastination’ and says no country is in greater need of accession
Boris Johnson has criticised Nato’s “mealy mouthed procrastination” and called for a timetable to be drawn up for Ukraine to join the alliance, after this week’s difficult summit in Lithuania.
Writing in his weekly column in the Daily Mail, the former prime minister said it was “no wonder” that Volodymyr Zelenskiy “found it hard” to conceal his frustration at the joint declaration released on Tuesday that stopped short of outlining a roadmap to Nato membership.
Continue reading...Latest updates: group complains about Labour’s lack of commitment to green new deal as leader speaks about extending opportunity
Starmer is now being heckled by someone complaining about his lack of commitment to a green new deal.
He says he has already given a speech on this. He offers to speak to the protesters later.
Keir Starmer asked two protesters holding a banner saying “Green New Deal now” to “let me finish” as they interrupted his speech.
The Labour leader told the pair he would “speak to you after” as they accused of him of U-turning on his £28bn green prosperity plan before being led off stage by security.
I promise you this, wherever there are obstacles to opportunity, wherever there are the barriers to hope, my Labour government will tear them down.
Continue reading...Former British prime minister says in interview that Trump ‘played an important role’ in arming Ukraine and set an example
On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.
Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane. The episode was released on Thursday.
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