The second round of public hearings examining the UK's handling of the COVID pandemic - Penny Mordaunt says her WhatsApp messages went missing

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67363417

  • The former chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Martin Hewitt is giving evidence to the UK’s Covid inquiry
  • He was chair of the group, which plays an important role in coordinating policing across the UK, for the whole of the pandemic
  • After him, former Home Secretary Priti Patel will give evidence to the inquiry later this morning
  • As home secretary, she was responsible for areas such as policing, but also domestic abuse policy during lockdown

IIRC, the police were caught between a rock and a hard place - they could only do what the law permitted or the government granted … :thinking:

IIRC, Priti Patel was yet another of those incompetent, self-serving Tory “ministers” responsible for the government’s shamblolic response to the COVID pandemic … :angry:

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In his witness statement, Hewitt describes the pandemic as an “unprecedented situation” that needed an “unprecedented response”.

He says the kind of measures being taken in other countries in 2020 - where the virus had spread ahead of the UK - were unlike anything that had happened “since the second world war”.

“We were going to be in positions where we were going to be imposing on people’s liberty and movement and their lives in a way that was totally out of our experience at that point in time,” he said.

Other points raised:

Enforcing rules on children playing outside ‘challenging’ for police - Hewitt
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He said officers did their best but there wasn’t enough clarity on how the rules worked, which he said put officers “on the ground in an invidious position” when it came to enforcing rules.

Inquiry lawyer Andrew O’Connor KC is asking Hewitt about the policing of protests and large gatherings.

In his witness statement, Hewitt writes that protest activity during the pandemic was originally not identified as a reasonable excuse to be outside, but that this later changed to allow protesting under certain regulations.

Former Brexit minister Lord Frost said the rules on outside gatherings were practically “unenforceable” and were being ignored “in all kinds of contexts”.

People travelled hundreds of miles to beauty spots during pandemic - Hewitt

The way rules were applied differently across various parts of the UK put extra pressure on the police, says Hewitt.

‘Confusion’ around Covid rules affected compliance, police boss says

Asked about the “confusion” between regulations and guidance, Hewitt says it “definitely” impacted people’s compliance with the laws. People “genuinely couldn’t understand” where they fitted into the rules, he says.

Home Office should have consulted police more - Hewitt
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He accepted that the situation was moving rapidly but told the inquiry that the police should have been consulted over any new restrictions for the public.

Bring on Priti Patel … :wink:

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67363417

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel has just been sworn in and will be the next witness giving evidence to the inquiry.

Inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC asks Patel whether the Home Office was involved in the drafting of Covid regulations. She says that was “solely” the Department for Health and Social Care throughout the pandemic.

Patel says she was shown evidence that shutting borders would have ‘minimal’ impact on transmission but, anyway, UK didn’t have the ability to stop Covid at the border . She said there was “no technical capability” - such as screening - and also agreed it was “fair” to say there were no developed plans in place about what to do at the border in a pandemic.

Priti Patel is being asked about how the government dealt with the “hidden harms” caused by Covid - for example, how victims of domestic and child abuse were considered when deciding to introduce lockdown. According to Patel’s statement, there was no pre-existing plan within the Home Office to protect vulnerable people during lockdown - because there was not much thinking about lockdowns before Covid. Patel says that work took place within the department and with police, adding: “We were agile - we were able to work at pace and start working across the sector with partners as soon as we were effectively locking down.”

In March 2022 the Home Office launched a plan to tackle domestic abuse," the inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith now says. He says that at the time, it was clear that, despite all the work that had been done, lockdown and the Covid restrictions meant that online child abuse had increased and more people were using helplines. He asks Patel to assess the work that she and the Home Office did to address this “scourge of criminality”. Patel says “the steps we took, I would absolutely stand by” and they were the “right steps to deploy throughout the pandemic”.

Hugo Keith KC is now pressing Patel on this line, asking why, throughout the course of the pandemic, the system was not changed to allow more time for consultation on changes drafted at night and the police told in the morning. Drafting and delivery of Covid regulations sits with the Department of Health, says Patel, and the Home Office is there to "explain what would and wouldn’t work, and there was a lot that didn’t work".

Patel says she absolutely had discussions with the PM at the time around enforcements and fines. She insisted she would not have attempted to direct the way police handled cases and said she was focused on ensuring the law was upheld in the right way. Asked if she thought a flat fine of £10,000 from 15 August, was proportionate, Patel says “it was very high”. Pressed again if it was proportionate, Patel says: “The answer is no.”

The inquiry continues along the lines of protests, and how regulations were enforced. The lawyer highlights in particular the vigil in March 2021 for Sarah Everard who was murdered by a police officer. Six people were accused of breaking lockdown rules at the vigil, though their prosecution was dropped months later. The lawyer asks whether the protest rules were “unenforceable” - yes, Patel replies.

This all sounds a bit self-righteous from Patel with the suggestion that, even if she’d wanted to, she could not influence the making of regulations. That seems somewhat odd since the Home Office is one of the most senior and influential ministers in the UK Government, and the holder of a Great Office of State.

The Great Offices of State are senior offices in the UK government. They are the prime minister, chancellor of the Exchequer, foreign secretary and home secretary or, alternatively, three of those offices excluding the prime minister. The DHSC is not included.

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All highly disingenuous. First, any sort of preparedness should have considered how as an island nation the UK could protect itself. Second, there were weeks, even months, to put such steps in place. Even if it meant limiting international flights to a small number of airports. This was one of the biggest failures along with test & trace. To shrug it off with “didn’t have a plan” shows the poor quality of Johnson’s government.

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Well I don’t know much about stopping a pandemic, but obviously the airports would have been the first thing to close, or at least reduced so they could have been monitored much easier.
The speed at which the virus travelled, it would have had to have been air travel, or deliberate.

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The sad thing is there were early opportunities to set a plan in motion but the blinkered Tory fools in the Cabinet believed that “it can’t happen here”, despite overwhelming evidence from other countries, scientists and even movies, particularly Contagion and, to a lesser extent, Outbreak.

Since the inquiry has another month of evidence collection I’ve linked to a new thread if anyone wants to take this discussion on preparedness further using evidence that the inquiry has to hear, e.g. from BJ and Sunak.

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My son an airline steward of 24 yrs told me their flights outward bound were all stopped yet for weeks and weeks aircraft was coming inward to the UK from all over the world. How can this be right ?

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It’s wasn’t right Susan. A proper cock up, and a dangerous one that cost lots of people their lives.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67451422

From 10:30 GMT today, we expect to hear from Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s former chief scientific adviser. He is the only witness appearing during today’s hearing.

Vallance, who will be giving evidence today, was the chief scientific adviser to the UK government from 2018 until he stepped down this year.

Before that he spent years in medical research – first at St George’s hospital in London and then at the drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline.

During the pandemic he often appeared at Covid news conferences alongside the ex-PM Boris Johnson and England’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, who will give evidence tomorrow.

He was responsible for chairing the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies – or Sage – a committee of scientists, mainly from academia, responsible for advising ministers on Covid.

It was also Sir Patrick’s idea to set up an independent unit, the Vaccine Taskforce, to fund and secure access to promising Covid vaccines very early in the pandemic.

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There’s been lots to digest in this morning’s evidence from former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance.

He’ll be back to face more questions from Andrew O’Connor KC at about 14:00. In the meantime, a recap:

  • The inquiry was presented a diary entry by Vallance which stated Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “clearly bamboozled” by some of the graphs and data presented to him during the pandemic
  • Vallance told the committee it was “hard work” at times trying to get Johnson to understand certain information
  • Vallance went on to talk about public health advisory groups Sage and Spi-B, and how leaks into the media from certain members created an issue
  • Another diary entry presented to the inquiry - dating to January 2020 - recorded Vallance writing that it was not “inevitable” that Covid would spread
  • Vallance told the inquiry he wanted more clarity from the government on what an acceptable rate of mortality from the virus was - but instead the focus was on not overrunning the NHS
  • The inquiry also heard about the differing views of Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty in the early stages of the pandemic. Vallance believed lockdowns should have come in earlier
  • Vallance was asked about what changed on the weekend of 14-15 March 2020 that prompted a lockdown to be declared. Vallance said information came to light showing the pandemic was “far bigger” and “moving faster” than had been earlier realised
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The government claimed they were “following the science”. That was a lie. They wanted to influence and direct the scientists and present the science only when it suited them (or they were forced to acknowledge it). In July 2020, Vallance recalls Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor, talking in a meeting about the need to manage the scientists, not the virus. Sunak did not realise Chris Whitty was in the meeting too. So not just Johnson who was wrong and was making bad decisions.

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I think we can safely blame the whole cabinet for making bad decisions but, of course, BJ was the boss and was responsible for any implementation of such decisions. He, naturally, will bluff and bluster, but it’s clear that he was way out of his depth and in over his head … :105:

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15:14
Andrew O’Connor KC brings up another diary excerpt that seems to suggest that on that day, 25 October 2020, Boris Johnson was unconcerned about Covid deaths.

Vallance wrote: “PM meeting begins to argue for letting it (Covid) all rip. Saying yes, there will be more casualties but so be it - ‘they have had a good innings’.”

The inquiry hears that Johnson may not have been alone in thinking this way. According to Vallance’s diary, Dominic Cummings said: “Rishi [Sunak] thinks just let people die and that’s okay”.

What fine leaders we breed … :roll_eyes:

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Sir Patrick Vallance has finished more than five hours’ worth of detailed evidence about the major decisions taken during the pandemic. Here are some of the highlights form his testimony:

  • In the early months of the pandemic, he said he was concerned over the speed of the government’s “operational response”, when it became clear Covid infections were rising sharply

  • The first national lockdown, announced on 23 March 2020, was imposed about a “week too late”, he added

  • He said Boris Johnson was “clearly bamboozled” by some scientific concepts and briefing the former PM was “hard work” at times, although the situation was similar in other European countries.

  • Vallance confirmed scientific advisers were not consulted in advanced about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, introduced by then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the summer of 2020.

  • Vallance said it was “highly likely” that the scheme led to more deaths

  • “He is so inconsistent,” he wrote about Boris Johnson at the time. “We have a weak, indecisive PM.”

  • Vallance says Johnson had been “very sceptical” about long Covid, and briefly suggested the virus should be allowed to “rip” through the population

  • His diaries showed he was particularly critical of political decision-making in the run up to the second national lockdown in the autumn of 2020.

  • In another diary entry he described some cabinet ministers as “meek as mice” when shown the plan for the tier system of regional restrictions in England.

Scathing … :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Tomorrow, Tuesday 21 November, Prof ChrisWhitty will take the witness stand, and we will get to hear what he thought of the timing of lockdown and more.

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I can believe Sunak being a psychopath but I think Johnson is just lazy and can’t be arsed with doing anything that requires effort.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-67451423

Professor Sir Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, is giving evidence at the UK Covid inquiry
Sir Chris became a household name during the pandemic, giving regular televised news conferences

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Today:

In a letter from the solicitor to the inquiry to what are known as its core participants, “private medical information” relating to Mr Case has been shared “in order to update them on his ability to give evidence during the Module 2 hearing and seek any representations which they wished to make”.

Core participants in the inquiry include government departments, charities and groups representing bereaved families.

Those who have been sent the letter are banned from sharing any information within it and “this order remains in force for the duration of the inquiry and at all times thereafter”.

Recipients are told that “the High Court and the Court of Session have the power to imprison or fine for any breach of this order”.

The existence of the letter, which was sent on Monday, has been made public on the Covid Inquiry’s website.

The Cabinet Office has not commented on the letter.

Blimey … a gag order … :shushing_face:

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-67451423

The inquiry is taking a short tea break after almost an hour and a half of questions on the early response to Covid in the UK - and Professor Sir Chris Whitty’s role in its delivery.

Here’s a look at the key lines so far:

  • Whitty tells the the inquiry he took the lead role in responding to Covid in late January
  • He dismissed claims that there was tension with Professor Sir Patrick Vallance at the time - and that any differences in approach they had were “small”
  • Whitty urged care in exaggerating any such differences - and accompanying suggestions he was the more cautious of the two
  • In balancing the risk of introducing social measures either too early or too late, he conceded that “we went a bit too late on the first wave”
  • He added that it became clear by mid-March that the UK would be “in very deep trouble” if it did not take action
  • Whitty also rejected the characterisation that he warned the government against “overreacting”
  • In February 2020, he said it would have been wrong to swing the whole medical profession to Covid
  • On Sage - the board that provides advice to support government decision makers during emergencies - Whitty said it was too small to begin with, before becoming “arguably” too large

Whitty seems to be a bit of a ditherer … "On the one hand … on the other … "

Apparently, he’s a polymath so maybe internal conflicts are inevitable for him … :man_shrugging:

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While the inquiry is taking a break for lunch, now is a good time to bring you an overview of what Sir Chris Whitty has said so far since the tea break:

  • England’s chief medical officer described all the options open to the government on Covid as “very bad, some a bit worse, some very, very bad”

  • Whitty defended the speed of the expert response to the emerging pandemic, as well as the use of public health modelling to test policy options available to ministers

  • He dismissed suggestions he had warned the government against “overreacting”, and also denied that tensions emerged with fellow senior adviser Professor Sir Patrick Vallance in January 2020

  • Whitty says the way Boris Johnson made decisions was “unique to him” - but does not personally criticise the ex-PM

  • And he says it caused “quite a row” when Dominic Cummings began coming to Sage meetings - but Whitty says he thought it was a “sensible” idea

I think I will christen him “Whitty the Wimp” since, patently, he’s covering his own Rs and not criticising those on whom he depends for his multiple positions:

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