Three years ago, on November 5, England entered its second lockdown, with restrictions urging people to stay home to protect the health service and save lives. The Covid Inquiry’s job is to determine how key decisions that surrounded the pandemic were made. Evidence provided during hearings this week has been eye-opening for many, and an important moment in the history of the country. The hearings have revealed an overwhelming list of claims about what was happening at the heart of government.
From the claims, it has become apparent that Downing Street was in chaos, there was no Coronavirus response, and it took too long for the first lockdown to be introduced. Senior officials have come forward saying that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s indecisiveness and flitting between positions was due to a weak nature, and at times he contradicted shutting down the economy to keep people alive.
The most powerful adviser to the Prime Minister, Dominic Cummings, used the most vulgar of language to talk about his colleagues and government ministers. The macho atmosphere in No 10 was found to be unsuitable and sexist by senior civil servants. They raised concerns about a misogynist culture where women were being ignored.
Sources said that Mr. Cummings did not believe it was worth including the Prime Minister in discussions about the pandemic in February 2020 because he believed he would get in the way. The picture painted to date is a timely reminder of the events of 2020. The events of the hearings are a significant moment in the history of the country, revealing a dysfunctional, divided and chaotic No 10.
Contemporaneous communications, scribbled recordings of meetings involving cabinet ministers, diaries of concerned scientists, and foul-mouthed WhatsApp messages that many senior officials sent will remind people of such dark days, but portray what was occurring sickeningly in Downing Street. WhatsApp’s disappearing messages function has been turned on by many in Westminster in recent months, making it unlikely that more unfiltered communications will be revealed in full. Despite this, senior ministers are expected to provide their version of events in the coming weeks
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