Boris Johnson ‘bamboozled’ by COVID science, claims Sir Patrick Vallance

Published

1 year ago

November 20, 2023

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Boris Johnson was left “bamboozled” by the science around COVID, according to the government’s then chief scientific adviser.

Extracts from Sir Patrick Vallance’s diaries were shown to the official inquiry into the handling of the pandemic on Monday, with several references to the prime minister’s difficulty in getting to grips with the data he was being shown.

Politics live: Johnson ‘looked broken’ in COVID meetings, claims adviser

One entry described a late afternoon meeting between the pair in May 2020 to discuss plans for schools, where the adviser wrote: “My god this is complicated and models will not provide the answer. PM is clearly bamboozled.”

Ten days later, Sir Patrick wrote that Mr Johnson “sways between optimism and pessimism” and he was “still confused on different types of tests (he holds it in his head for a session and then it goes).”

Another extract from June 2020 said: “Watching [the] PM get his head around stats is awful. He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand.”

And a further entry from same month said it was “a real struggle to get [Mr Johnson] to understand” graphs.

Sir Patrick stood by his words when questioned by the inquiry’s legal team, pointing to how Mr Johnson dropped science as a subject aged 15.

“He did struggle with some of the concepts and we did need to repeat them often,” he added.

But while the senior scientist said it was “hard work sometimes to try and make sure that he had understood what a particular graph or piece of data was saying”, Mr Johnson did not have a “unique inability to grasp some of these concepts”, adding that it was “not unusual amongst leaders in Western democracies”.

‘Risk’ of Eat Out To Help Out

Sir Patrick also revealed that the government’s scientific and medical advisers were not told about Rishi Sunak’s “Eat Out To Help Out” scheme until it was announced by the then chancellor, saying their advice about the increased risk of transmission would have been “very clear”.

Written evidence from Mr Sunak to the inquiry said: “I don’t recall any concerns about [the scheme] being expressed during ministerial discussions, including those attended by [Sir Patrick].”

But asked about the inconsistency with his own statement, Sir Patrick said: “Around that time lots of measures were being released and you will see repeated references in various minutes and notes and emails and indeed, I am sure, in my private notes, to our concern that people were piling on more and more things and this would come to drive R above one and I think that was discussed at cabinet as well.

“So I think it would have been very obvious to anyone that this was likely to cause, well, inevitably would cause an increase in transmission risk and I think that would have been known by ministers.”

He added: “I would be very surprised if any minister didn’t understand that these openings carried risk.”

The division did not appear to be limited to that one scheme, however, with Sir Patrick’s diaries showing how he thought scientific advisers were kept out of strategy meetings by both Number 10 and the Cabinet Office.

The adviser told the inquiry there were “periods when it was clear that the unwelcome advice we were giving was, as expected, not loved and that meant we had to work doubly hard that the science evidence and advice was being properly heard”.

He added: “There were times, because we were giving unpalatable evidence and advice, people would prefer not to hear it.”

Sir Patrick also said “pressure” was sometimes put on advisers to change advice, pointing to a WhatsApp exchange with the then health secretary Matt Hancock.

“[Mr Hancock] asked me to change something and I said no, we are not going to change our advice, because that is where the evidence bit comes in,” said the adviser. “You have got to at least see that even if you disagree with it and don’t want to do it.”

He added: “I am absolutely sure, because politicians are politicians, that there were attempts to manage us and make sure we were not always given the access we might need

“But I think overall we managed to get through all that… and make sure the advice and evidence was heard.”

Asked about the WhatsApp exchange, a spokesman for Mr Hancock said: “Mr Hancock has supported the inquiry throughout and will respond to all questions when he gives his evidence.”

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Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin: Here’s what you need to know before launch

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2024

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Driving test bosses ‘bullying examiners to be lenient with learners to reduce COVID backlog’

Published

6 hours ago

December 4, 2024

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Driving test bosses 'bullying examiners to be lenient with learners to reduce COVID backlog'

Driving test managers are “bullying” examiners into being lenient with learners to reduce the COVID driving test backlog, Sky News has been told.

They have claimed bosses at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) are encouraging examiners to carry out driving tests in unroadworthy cars, sometimes without valid MOTs, owned by those taking tests, instead of the examiners’ cars.

Managers, they say, are also using a tool that charts different test routes to identify which routes have low test pass rates, with the aim of phasing those routes out in favour of high pass routes.

Some HGV examiners have reported being told to remove more difficult manoeuvres to increase their chance of passing, according to evidence given to parliament’s transport committee by the civil servants union, the Public and Commercial Services union (PSC).

The block booking of tests by unofficial websites is also a major issue, examiners said, as they are using people’s licence numbers without their knowledge to book tests and then charging people up to £600 – instead of the standard £62.

Driving tests were suspended during COVID, resulting in a backlog that has yet to be solved, meaning learner drivers are waiting up to five months to take a test.

Evidence from the PCS given to the transport committee said: “PCS has received a number of contacts from driving examiners who have felt pressured and bullied by managers to increase test pass rates.”

Morale is rock bottom

One driving examiner Sky News spoke to, on condition of anonymity, said: “Morale is rock bottom. There is major pressure to get as many tests out as possible and pressure to ensure as many test passes go out as possible.

“There’s a big push on looking at test routes, whether or not they need to be reconfigured.”

He added managers are looking at their assessment of the people they are taking out and suggesting they may be too harsh in their marking, pressuring them to pass people who they would not have done in the past.

Asked if staff believe they will be punished for not passing enough people because they are not good enough to be on the road, the examiner said: “Some of our staff believe that, yes.”

Examiners who are members of the PCS but have queried these practices have said there has been a “coordinated strategy” from senior management to “comply with the tactics to increase pass rates”.

The issue has been happening in test centres across the North over the past few months, according to the PCS, but examiners believe the practice will spread as the backlog is so severe.

Unprecedented and of extreme concern

Lyndsey Marchant, the PCS’s industrial officer, told Sky News: “We’re hearing reports of a new focus on people who are deemed to have ‘too low pass rates’.

“Some are reporting to us they’ve been told they need to get their pass rate up or they’ll start coming down a disciplinary route.

“This is unprecedented and of extreme concern for us because the DVSA is the regulatory body, they regulate people passing tests who are of a fit level to drive.”

The PCS is calling for a separation in the DVSA of who assesses how well examiners are doing and who is trying to get the backlog down, as they are currently the same body, which the PCS says is a conflict of interest.

The union is also calling for the end to third-party providers being allowed to sell driving test slots as it says the backlog is being exacerbated by websites promising to get tests in a person’s area quickly by buying up blocks of slots and selling them at inflated prices.

After COVID, the government allowed one provisional driving licence to book 20 slots, which has now been reduced to five.

It is understood websites are using the licence numbers of previous users, without their knowledge, or buying the details to book the slots then transferring them when people select the tests.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We have zero tolerance for bullying and harassment, and we expect DVSA to properly investigate any allegations of misconduct.

“We are also working with the DVSA to bring forward measures to reduce driving test waiting times.

“In the last year alone, DVSA have provided almost two million tests in the past financial year alone and have deployed enhanced bot protection to clamp down on candidates being overcharged for tests.”

A DVSA spokesman said: “Road safety is our absolute priority. Our valued and committed examiners are professionals who maintain the highest standards. We have robust systems in place to ensure all tests are conducted fairly and safely, including automatic checks on vehicle roadworthiness.

“DVSA takes complaints seriously and investigates any allegations that standards are not being adhered to. We have a robust policy to protect whistleblowers and DVSA encourages those with any concerns to bring them to our attention.”