Covid inquiry live: Boris Johnson’s pandemic response was ‘Trump-level mad and dangerous’

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s approach to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic was “mad and dangerous” and his constant indecision made it “impossible” to tackle the virus, the government’s top civil servant told officials.

The exchanges between Simon Case, the government’s most senior official, and officials in which he also described Britain’s response in 2020 as a “terrible, tragic joke”, were shown on Monday to the inquiry into how the government handled the worst health crisis in almost a century.

In the autumn of 2020 when the government was discussing how to suppress the virus, Case said of Johnson: “He cannot lead and we cannot support him under these circumstances. The team captain cannot change the call on the big plays every day.” He then wrote in capital letters: “IT HAS TO STOP”.

Months earlier when the government was reopening after the first lockdown, Case said Johnson wanted to let the virus “rip” and compared Johnson’s approach to the way US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who were known for dismissing the threat of Covid, were handling the crisis.

“This is in danger of becoming Trump/Bolsonaro level mad and dangerous,” Case told other colleagues.

A spokesman for Johnson, who will appear as a witness in the inquiry in the future, declined to comment.

Scotland’s First Minister has said he has not deleted WhatsApp messages relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, following press reports his predecessor and senior officials may have.

Last week a note to the chairman of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry from one of its counsels said the inquiry was of the belief that the “majority” of informal messages, including on WhatsApp had “not been retained”.

Humza Yousaf said on Monday he had retained his messages, but that there had been a Scottish Government policy on social media messaging which advised their deletion after 30 days.

Press reports in recent days suggested former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch and chief medical officer Dr Sir Gregor Smith may have deleted messages either manually or through the use of the app’s auto-delete function.

The First Minister said on Monday: “I don’t know why there’s been press reports suggesting I’ve deleted my WhatsApp messages, that’s not true.

“I’ve retained my WhatsApp messages and, of course, whatever the Covid Inquiry asks for, I’ll be absolutely prepared to hand them over as I would for the Scottish inquiry too.”

An internal report into the culture at the top of Government in the early months of the pandemic found that female staff were being “talked over and ignored” and “bad behaviours” were being tolerated from senior leaders.

The report, by former top aide Martin Reynolds and then deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara, was written in May 2020 amid concerns about discipline, “macho behaviour” and misogyny, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard on Monday.

Released as part of a batch of documents relevant to the inquiry, the report asked more than 45 people who worked closely with No 10 what could be done to better support the prime minister in May 2020.

Among the themes listed by the report are that culture was failing to get the best from people.

“Lots of people mentioned junior women being talked over or ignored,” the report summarised. “We need a modern culture of organised collaboration, not superhero bunfight.”

The report also found that “people are exhausted and stressed” and that “bad behaviours from senior leaders (are) tolerated”. Other themes included that there were “far too many meetings” taking up the time of senior leadership, and that No 10 was “always at war with someone”.

Mr Reynolds was asked about the report while giving evidence to the inquiry on Monday. He agreed with counsel that the report showed “dysfunctionality, lack of discipline, chaos and a significant degree of misogyny”.

Families held a vigil for Covid-19 victims at the site of Dominic Cummings’ eyesight-testing lockdown trip, ahead of his appearance at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

Campaigners projected the message “228,040 Covid deaths – is that clear enough to read?” on to the walls of Barnard Castle on Monday.

The County Durham beauty spot made headlines during the pandemic when it was disclosed that Mr Cummings, former prime minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser at the time, had taken a day trip there in April 2020, while the country was in lockdown.

Senior Labour MP Andy McDonald has had the party whip suspended for using the controversial phrase “between the river and the sea” in a pro-Palestine rally speech.

The MP for Middlesbrough used the phrase as he urged peace between Israelis and Palestinians at an event at the weekend.

Some pro-Palestinian protesters have chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during recent demonstrations in London, despite controversy around the slogan’s meaning.

Mr Sunak revealed that he would have a conversation with the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, on his social media platform this Thursday evening.

Adam Forrest, Political Correspondent reports:

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.

Adam Forrest and Archie Mitchell report:

Dominic Cummings’ press conference on his lockdown trip to Barnard Castle was described as a “car crash” by the former chief scientist, who said the journey had clearly gone against the rules at the time.

Sir Patrick Vallance, writing in his notebooks at the time in May 2020, also said he and England’s then-chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty felt No 10 officials were trying to “strong arm” them into appearing by Boris Johnson’s side at a Downing Street press conference afterwards.

Monday’s hearing at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard Mr Cummings, who became well-known to the public when news of his trip to the Co Durham beauty spot emerged, described as “the most empowered chief of staff Downing Street has seen”.

He will give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday.

Former private secretary to Boris Johnson Imran Shafi also said Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, had criticised Rishi Sunak’s “Eat out to help out” scheme in August 2020 – calling it “Eat out to help out the virus”.

Rishi Sunak has sacked a senior Tory from his government job as a ministerial aide for calling breaking ranks and calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hama conflict.

Paul Bristow, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) at the science department, called for a “permanent” ceasefire in Gaza in a letter to Mr Sunak.

The MP for Peterborough said it “would save lives and allow for a continued column of humanitarian aid [to] reach the people who need it the most”.

Adam Forrest, Political Correspondent reports: