Questions are piling up for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak at the COVID inquiry – and it’s likely to get worse
This week at the COVID inquiry is about the advisers – the backroom officials now thrust into the spotlight.
They reveal new details of the chaotic decision-making in Number 10 – and more widely across government – and extremely candid assessments of the key players, but particularly Boris Johnson.
Today, Martin Reynolds, a close Johnson ally from his time at the foreign office who went to work as his principal private secretary, conceded that the former prime minister “blew hot and cold” on lockdown.
He insisted this was because of the momentous nature of the decisions. Messages from Simon Case, the most senior civil servant in government, are less charitable.
Politics latest: Government WhatsApp messages revealed during COVID inquiry
In one newly-released WhatsApp from late 2020, he says of Mr Johnson: “I’m at the end of my tether. He changes strategic direction every day.
“Monday, we were all about fear of virus returning as per Europe… today we were in ‘let it rip’ mode cos the UK is pathetic. He cannot lead and we cannot support him leading with this approach.”
In another message, he called the government a “terrible, tragic joke”.
Lee Cain, Johnson’s former director of communications, signalled his agreement with an emoji of a trolley – their nickname for the prime minister given his tendency, in their view, to veer from one side to another.
Lee Cain used a trolley emoji in reference to his nickname for Mr Johnson
Sir Patrick Vallance, the former chief scientific adviser, described the prime minister in his diaries as “weak and indecisive” and constantly “flip-flopping”.
Later we heard from Imran Shafi, who worked in Number 10 advising the prime minister on public services.
He revealed a hand-scrawled note from a discussion between Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak in March 2020 which read: “We’re killing the patient to tackle the tumour… Why are we destroying economy for people who will die soon anyway?”
Asked who expressed these views, he said he thought it was Mr Johnson.
It would tally with claims that he talked to aides of letting the “bodies pile high” rather than allowing a second lockdown.
Dominic Cummings, once Mr Johnson’s closest ally but now his sworn enemy, told MPs he’d heard the former prime minister say it.
Mr Johnson and other senior politicians will be called by the inquiry by the end of this year.
Dominic Cummings with his former ally Boris Johnson
Despite a court ruling that he must hand over WhatsApp messages from his old phone, used before April 2021, this process is not yet complete.
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “Boris Johnson is cooperating fully with the inquiry”.
Tomorrow, Mr Cummings, who has already spoken extensively on this, will be in front of the inquiry – no doubt to inflict further damage on his old nemesis.
And questions are also building up for Mr Sunak, who declared himself, while running for the Conservative leadership last year, to be sceptical of the lockdown.
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On Wednesday, Helen McNamara, the cabinet office official who called Sunak “Dr Death”, will give evidence.
And today, it was revealed that the cut-price meal scheme he championed as chancellor was dubbed “Eat Out to Help the Virus” by chief medical officer Chris Whitty.
For the current and former prime ministers, there could be plenty more unwelcome surprises.
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UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand condemn Israel’s plan for new operation in Gaza
The UK and four allies have criticised Israel’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza – warning it will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the territory.
The foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand said in a joint statement that the offensive will “endanger the lives of hostages” and “risk violating international humanitarian law”.
It comes a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved an operation to take military control of Gaza City – and concluded a full takeover of the enclave is required to end the conflict.
It marks another escalation in the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.
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Can Netanyahu defeat Hamas ideology?
In their joint statement, the UK and its allies said they “strongly reject” the decision, adding: “It will endanger the lives of the hostages and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.
“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”
The countries also called for a permanent ceasefire as “the worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza”.
It comes as Sky News analysis has found that airdrops of aid are making little difference to Gaza’s hunger crisis, and pose serious risks to the population – with a father-of-two killed by a falling package.
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Revealed: The dangers of airdrops
Meanwhile, France, Canada, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations all criticised Israel’s plan for a full occupation of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “expressed his disappointment” with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s in phone call on Friday after Berlin decided it would stop selling arms to Israel.
In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister’s office added: “Instead of supporting Israel’s just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.”
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Inside plane dropping aid over Gaza
US ambassador hits out at Starmer
Earlier on Friday, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he said Israel’s decision to “escalate its offensive” in Gaza is “wrong”.
Mr Huckabee wrote on X: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”
Read more:
Analysis: Israel likely faces an impossible task
How life and colour has been stripped from Gaza
In another post around an hour later Mr Huckabee wrote: “How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza?
“@IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages.”
Sir Keir has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.
The UK and its allies criticised Israel as US President JD Vance and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met at Chevening House in Kent on Friday.
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Lammy-Vance bromance: Will it last?
Mr Vance described a “disagreement” about how the US and UK could achieve their “common objectives” in the Middle East, and said the Trump administration had “no plans to recognise a Palestinian state”.
He said: “I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there.”
Mr Vance added: “There’s a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, it’s a tough situation.”
The UN Security Council will meet on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said earlier on Friday that a number of countries would be requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council on Israel’s plans.
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