Professor Sir Chris Whitty to give evidence to COVID inquiry today

Published

2 years ago

November 21, 2023

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Professor Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, will be the latest high-profile figure to reveal his first-hand experience of the COVID pandemic when he gives evidence to the inquiry later today.

Sir Chris became a household name alongside the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, when the pair appeared alongside politicians at the daily COVID press conferences.

As chief medical officer, Sir Chris is responsible for providing public health and clinical advice to the Department of Health and the rest of government. Along with Sir Patrick, he helped steer the UK through the unprecedented crisis.

Before he was launched into the limelight, Sir Chris played a leading role advising on the UK response to the Ebola epidemic in 2014 as chief scientific adviser to the Department for International Development.

He has previously given evidence to module one of the inquiry, which looked at how prepared the UK was for a pandemic when COVID-19 struck.

Sir Chris said during that module that the UK did “not have the ability to scale up” quickly to deal with the pandemic in areas such as testing, and that the non-pharmaceutical interventions – social measures such as quarantine, individual isolation, closing schools – were not new and some went back to the Middle Ages.

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In WhatsApp messages leaked to The Daily Telegraph by journalist Isabel Oakeshott after she helped write Matt Hancock’s book, Pandemic Diaries, it was revealed that Sir Chris advised against imposing a lockdown “sex ban” because couples were “not likely to listen” to orders to stay apart.

But it is module two of the inquiry, on decision-making, that is more overtly political and is likely to generate the most headlines.

His colleague at the time, Sir Patrick, was doing just that yesterday, telling the inquiry about some of the reflections he had written in his contemporaneous diary.

Tensions between politicians and scientists, and among themselves, were palpable.

‘Just let people die’

Among the most eye-catching claims yesterday was that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, had said that Rishi Sunak thought the government should “just let people die” rather than see the country go into another lockdown.

Sir Patrick’s diary entry said Mr Cummings made the remark during a heated meeting over whether to impose stricter pandemic measures in October 2020.

In the extract, shown to the inquiry on Monday, Sir Patrick said Mr Johnson had argued against any lockdown, saying he was for “letting it all rip” and that those who would die from contracting the virus had “had a good innings”.

Sir Patrick then detailed a row between Mr Johnson and his chief adviser, with Mr Cummings calling for the PM to act, but the former prime minister was “getting very frustrated” and “throwing papers down” in the meeting, before saying he did not want another lockdown.

The meeting ended with an agreement to “beef up” the tier system being implemented across the country at the time and to “consider a national lockdown”.

Sir Patrick also wrote: “DC [Dominic Cummings] says ‘Rishi thinks just let people die and that’s OK’.”

Sir Patrick also told the inquiry that neither he nor Sir Chris knew about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme before it was announced, but that they felt it was “very obvious to anyone that this inevitably would cause an increase in transmission risk, and I think that would have been known by ministers”.

Mr Sunak’s witness statement refutes this, saying: “I don’t recall any concerns about the scheme being expressed during ministerial discussions” – including those attended by Sir Patrick and Sir Chris.

‘We found it useful to work together’

Sir Patrick was also asked about differences of opinions he had with the chief medical officer in the early stages of the pandemic after scientist Sir Jeremy Farrar wrote his own diary entry in which he described “friction” between the two.

Asked whether there was tension between himself and Sir Chris, Sir Patrick said the chief medical officer was a public health specialist who was rightly concerned about the adverse effects of interventions such as lockdown.

He said Sir Chris was “concerned that there would be more than just the issue of the direct cause of death from the virus”, including the impact on the NHS, isolating, mental health and loneliness as well as “indirect long term consequences” such as poverty.

“And that I think is a totally appropriate worry from the chief medical officer and a legitimate public health concern throughout,” Sir Patrick said.

“And I didn’t have exactly the same worry. I was more on the side of we need to move on this, but I think that’s partly why the two of us found it useful to work together.”

If Sir Patrick’s testimony is anything to go by, then the inquiry will likely be braced for further revelations later today.

UK

Thousands of NHS staff to be made redundant after funding agreed

Published

1 hour ago

November 12, 2025

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Thousands of job cuts at the NHS will go ahead after the £1bn needed to fund the redundancies was approved by the Treasury.

The government had already announced its intention to slash the headcount across both NHS England and the Department of Health by around 18,000 administrative staff and managers, including on local health boards.

The move is designed to remove “unnecessary bureaucracy” and raise £1bn a year by the end of the parliament to improve services for patients by freeing up more cash for operations.

NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Treasury had been in talks over how to pay for the £1bn one-off bill for redundancies.

It is understood the Treasury has not granted additional funding for the departures over and above the NHS’s current cash settlement, but the NHS will be permitted to overspend its budget this year to pay for redundancies, recouping the costs further down the line.

‘Every penny will be spent wisely’

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to make further announcements regarding the health service in the budget on 26 November.

And addressing the NHS providers’ annual conference in Manchester today, Mr Streeting is expected to say the government will be “protecting investment in the NHS”.

He will add: “I want to reassure taxpayers that every penny they are being asked to pay will be spent wisely.

“Our investment to offer more services at evenings and weekends, arm staff with modern technology, and improving staff retention is working.

“At the same time, cuts to wasteful spending on things like recruitment agencies saw productivity grow by 2.4% in the most recent figures – we are getting better bang for our buck.”

Mr Streeting’s speech is due to be given just hours after he became entrenched in rumours of a possible coup attempt against Sir Keir Starmer, whose poll ratings have plummeted ahead of what’s set to be a tough budget.

Mr Streeting’s spokesperson was forced to deny he was doing anything other than concentrating on the health service.

He is also expected on Wednesday to give NHS leaders the go-ahead for a 50% cut to headcounts in Integrated Care Boards, which plan health services for specific regions.

They have been tasked with transforming the NHS into a neighbourhood health service – as set down in the government’s long-term plans for the NHS.

Those include abolishing NHS England, which will be brought back into the health department within two years.

Watch Wes Streeting on Mornings With Ridge And Frost from 7am on Sky News.

UK

New law could help tackle AI-generated child abuse at source, says watchdog

Published

1 hour ago

November 12, 2025

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New law could help tackle AI-generated child abuse at source, says watchdog

Groups tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material could be given more powers to protect children online under a proposed new law.

Organisations like the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), as well as AI developers themselves, will be able to test the ability of AI models to create such content without breaking the law.

That would mean they could tackle the problem at the source, rather than having to wait for illegal content to appear before they deal with it, according to Kerry Smith, chief executive of the IWF.

The IWF deals with child abuse images online, removing hundreds of thousands every year.

Ms Smith called the proposed law a “vital step to make sure AI products are safe before they are released”.

How would the law work?

The changes are due to be tabled today as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.

The government said designated bodies could include AI developers and child protection organisations, and it will bring in a group of experts to ensure testing is carried out “safely and securely”.

The new rules would also mean AI models can be checked to make sure they don’t produce extreme pornography or non-consensual intimate images.

“These new laws will ensure AI systems can be made safe at the source, preventing vulnerabilities that could put children at risk,” said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

“By empowering trusted organisations to scrutinise their AI models, we are ensuring child safety is designed into AI systems, not bolted on as an afterthought.”

AI abuse material on the rise

The announcement came as new data was published by the IWF showing reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the past year.

According to the data, the severity of material has intensified over that time.

The most serious category A content – images involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism – has risen from 2,621 to 3,086 items, accounting for 56% of all illegal material, compared with 41% last year.

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The data showed girls have been most commonly targeted, accounting for 94% of illegal AI images in 2025.

The NSPCC called for the new laws to go further and make this kind of testing compulsory for AI companies.

“It’s encouraging to see new legislation that pushes the AI industry to take greater responsibility for scrutinising their models and preventing the creation of child sexual abuse material on their platforms,” said Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the charity.

“But to make a real difference for children, this cannot be optional.

“Government must ensure that there is a mandatory duty for AI developers to use this provision so that safeguarding against child sexual abuse is an essential part of product design.”

UK

Samantha Morton calls for manslaughter charges over deaths of children in care

Published

1 hour ago

November 12, 2025

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Samantha Morton calls for manslaughter charges over deaths of children in care

Actor and director Samantha Morton has said councils who fail to prevent the deaths of children in care should face manslaughter charges.

Warning: This story contains references to suicide.

In a powerful interview with Sky News, the Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning actor and director, who grew up in care, said Britain’s care system needs to be “completely rethought”.

It comes after a Sky News documentary, A Girl Called Nonita, told the story of 18-year-old Nonita Grabovskyte, who died in the care of the state following a catalogue of failures by those responsible for her care.

Nonita took her own life on railway tracks in December 2023, just two weeks after her birthday. She had previously told doctors and social workers that she intended to kill herself as soon as she turned 18. But nothing was done to prevent her death.

“I was a child of the state, just like Nonita,” Morton told Sky News.

“I was put in care at birth until I got the letter to say I was no longer the council’s responsibility. I was kicked out at 16 and put into a homeless hostel.”

After spells of homelessness, she found a local TV actors’ workshop and managed to secure roles that would eventually lead to Hollywood.

But she says she has never forgotten her childhood, which saw her in and out of children’s homes and foster families.

“The lack of care historically is shocking,” she said. “But the lack of care today is worse. Back then, it felt like there was at least some comeuppance.

“The system now is not fit for purpose. It needs root and branch reform. It needs to be completely rethought.”

The data shows a sharp rise in deaths among care leavers – young adults who have aged out of the care system and are expected to live independently, often with little or no support.

The Department for Education only began collecting data for care leavers aged 22 to 25 in 2023, meaning the true scale of deaths over the past decade is likely to be far higher.

Morton says councils should be held more accountable for the deaths of children in their care, especially if local authority failings contributed to deaths.

‘State manslaughter’

“A failure to care has massive consequences,” she told Sky News. “And the consequences are that people like Nonita die. I believe that that is a kind of state manslaughter.

“And individuals who fail to do their job properly should be in a dock.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told Sky News that deaths of care-experienced young people should “shame us all”.

All deaths of children in the care of the state must be reported to the government via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification Scheme.

But there are doubts as to whether all deaths are being reported.

‘Shames us as a country’

Ms Phillipson told Sky News she has asked officials to urgently review the process to check for underreporting.

“I’m concerned about serious incident notifications – about making sure we’re receiving all notifications of such incidents taking place,” she said.

“Because it’s only if we know what’s happening, if we fully understand what’s going on in the lives of children, that we as a government, as a country, can provide the support they need.”

Ms Phillipson added: “It shames us all as a country that we so badly fail many of the most vulnerable children who’ve experienced such appalling trauma and abuse in their early lives.

“I read every single notification personally – and it always stays with you. Every case is a child or young person who deserved better.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, help, and support is available. You can call Samaritans free on 116 123 anytime day or night. You can also email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find support online.