‘I used to be within the Covid Inquiry ‘lock-in’ for hours – one phrase stood out’
The Johnson government’s conduct during the outset of the Covid pandemic was summed up in searing fashion with one standout word, says Mirror Health and Science Editor Martin Bagot
The final verdict on Britain’s pandemic government has now been delivered and one word stands out among the thousands in its 760-page report.
The lack of urgency at the start of the pandemic and the failure to prepare for a second wave is condemned as “inexcusable” by Baroness Heather Hallett and cost many thousands of lives. The inquiry chair is one of the country’s top judges, was the first woman to become chair of the Bar Council, and is not given to overstatement.
Speaking in a live broadcast after the report was published online, Baroness Hallett said: “Many of the same failings were repeated later in 2020. This was inexcusable.
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“The second wave had been predicted from early in the pandemic. The UK should have been well-equipped to respond. Scientific understanding of the virus had matured and data flows were much improved. Testing and surveillance capacity had been strengthened… yet again there was a failure to take timely and effective action.”
So her scathing verdict on Boris Johnson’s “toxic” government must be the final word on his Premiership and confirmation he was the wrong man to lead the country in its hour of need. I was one of the journalists in the “lock-in” at Country Hall in London on Thursday where we were given advanced sight of the report four hours before it was published online.
I had reported on Boris Johnson’s government throughout the pandemic and questioned him at Downing Street briefings. Unlike many other news organisations, the Mirror had relentlessly reported how his Tory government was acting too late. Now this position has been vindicated.
The inquiry’s terms of reference, set in 2022, make it the broadest in British history into a pandemic which cost the Treasury £376 billion. It saw hundreds of thousands of people die and many more live with the trauma and lasting health impact, such as debilitating Long Covid.
While not all harms of the worst pandemic in a century can be laid at Boris Johnson’s door, the mistakes he oversaw must become a blueprint for what not to do for any government unfortunate enough to face another pandemic – which the scientists say is inevitable.
Baroness Hallett summed it up in the final line of her chair’s statement delivered in a live broadcast to the nation yesterday. “Unless the lessons are learned and the fundamental change is implemented, the human and financial cost and sacrifice of the Covid-19 pandemic will have been in vain.”
Key points from the Covid Inquiry
Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett found the Partygate -PM and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings presided over a “toxic culture” and said “rule-breaking was not swiftly addressed” causing people to abandon lockdown rules. Baroness Hallett said 230,000 lives were lost due to the virus and that such “devastating consequences” were in part due to the “decisions taken to respond” to the pandemic.
In her conclusion, top judge Baroness Hallett said: “The Covid-19 virus spread around the world rapidly and caused untold misery and suffering. The number of deaths across the UK for which the virus was responsible is now over 230,000. This appalling loss of life resulted from the virus spreading across the UK in three successive waves.”
She added: “Ministers and officials in the UK government had been given clear advice that, in the reasonable worst-case scenario, up to 80% of the population would be infected – with a very significant loss of life – but did not appreciate the increasing likelihood of this scenario materialising. At the same time, it was clear that the test and trace system was inadequate for a pandemic. The lack of urgency on the part of all four governments, and the failure to take more immediate emergency steps, are inexcusable.”
The 800-page report is the second from the Covid-19 Inquiry and covered political decision-making during the pandemic. It found that the first lockdown may only have been needed because the government acted too late.
