Rishi Sunak to face COVID inquiry – amid claims govt scientists called him ‘Dr Death’
Rishi Sunak will be challenged at the COVID inquiry on claims that government scientists branded him “Dr Death” – and called his scheme to kickstart the economy “Eat Out to Help Out the Virus”.
The inquiry has also been told that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser in Downing Street at the time, claimed Mr Sunak’s view of COVID was: “Just let people die and that’s okay.”
Mr Sunak, who was chancellor during the pandemic, is the final witness to take the stand in the current phase of the inquiry – following on from Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock.
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The inquiry’s lead counsel Hugo Keith KC – who like Mr Sunak was educated at Winchester and Oxford – is expected to give the current prime minister a torrid time after a tetchy clash with Mr Johnson last week.
Mr Keith has been nicknamed “Hugo Hindsight” and accused of a “knifing hapless public servants” at the inquiry, and being obsessed with X-rated language used in WhatsApp messages sent during the crisis.
The “Dr Death” slur against Mr Sunak was said to have been made by Angela McLean, now the government’s chief scientific adviser, while the attack over Eat Out to Help Out was made by chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty.
The “let people die” claim attributed to Mr Cummings appeared in the diary entries of former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, who has been strongly critical of Mr Sunak in his evidence to the inquiry.
Mr Sunak will be questioned on claims that Eat Out to Help Out led to a spike in COVID cases and excess deaths – and that scientists were not consulted before it was launched.
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2020: Sunak explains Eat Out to Help Out
But in a defiant witness statement to the inquiry, the PM insisted: “Any suggestion that Eat Out to Help Out caused the second wave of infections is not borne out with reference to the discussions at the time.”
Michael Gove strongly defended Mr Sunak on Sky News yesterday.
On Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, he was asked about Sir Patrick Vallance’s claim that Eat Out to Help Out almost certainly increased the number of excess deaths.
Mr Gove said: “That’s Patrick’s view and I have enormous respect for Sir Patrick, having worked with him closely.
“However, I think it’s important to say that the Eat Out to Help Out scheme was announced a month before it was implemented and in the period post-announcement and pre-implementation, it was not the case that there was a public critique of it.
“It was an effective way of ensuring that the hospitality industry was supported through a very difficult period. And it was entirely within the broad outlines of rules about social mixing that prevailed at the time.”
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In his evidence, former deputy chief medical officer Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam said Eat Out to Help Out – which provided 50% off the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks – “didn’t feel sensible” because it was encouraging exactly what officials had been trying to stop in previous months.
Mr Sunak is also expected to be asked about lockdown-sceptic views he expressed during the 2022 Tory leadership election campaign, when he claimed too much power was given to government scientists.
He had told the Spectator magazine in August 2022: “We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did. And you have to acknowledge trade-offs from the beginning.
“If we’d done all of that we could be in a very different place. We’d probably have made different decisions on things like schools, for example.
“Could a more frank discussion have helped Britain avoid lockdown entirely, as Sweden did? I don’t know, but it could have been shorter. Different. Quicker.”
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In that interview, Mr Sunak also claimed many of his objections to draconian COVID rules were met with a “big silence” from government colleagues.
“Those meetings were literally me around that table, just fighting. It was incredibly uncomfortable, every single time,” he said.
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One of Sir Patrick’s diary entries said of Mr Sunak at a meeting: “Pushes very hard for faster opening up and fuller opening up, getting rid of all restrictions. Repeats his mantra: ‘We either believe in the vaccine or we don’t.'”
Mr Sunak may also face questions over his WhatsApp messages, or lack of them.
He has told the inquiry that “having changed my phone a number of times over the last three years” he no longer has access to them.
Andrew always denied the allegations – but the repeated accusations would not go away.
And his associations risked real reputational damage to the royal family.
His friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy, and then the posthumous publication of his accuser, Virginia Giuffre’s memoir.
Her family said she brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage.
The piling pressure was starting to overshadow the work of Andrew’s wider family. And with the Prince of Wales soon heading to Brazil for his Earthshot award, enough was enough.
We understand the Royal Family, including Prince William backed the King’s leadership on this matter.
The King made the decisions, his family supported them.
Both Andrew, and former secretary of state Peter Mandelson’s public lives have been dismantled by their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: PA
Andrew will leave Royal Lodge, his large home on the Windsor estate. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who also lived there, will “make her own arrangements”.
It was their family home for many years. Both daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who grew up there, will keep their titles.
Andrew’s ex-wife has continued to live at the Royal Lodge estate but will now be left to make her own housing arrangements. Pic: PA
As for Andrew, he will soon move to Sandringham – the King’s private Norfolk estate – where the family traditionally gathers for Christmas; and he will be funded privately by the King.
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This is all a formal process carried out in consultation with official authorities, but the government supports the decision taken.
This will not have been easy for the King, but he knew he could not ignore public opinion. The criticism and anger directed at Andrew was never going to stop – and only he had the power to take the ultimate action against his own brother.
For years, Andrew enjoyed the perks and privileges of his powerful position, but his birthright could not withstand withering public disdain.
And now he’s paid the ultimate price.
Corridor care in Britain’s hospitals is a “crisis in plain sight”, a charity has warned, with patients complaining of long waits and warzone-like conditions.
An Age UK report describes “truly shocking” incidents of elderly people waiting days for care, including them hearing and seeing others dying as they wait.
According to the latest figures for England, 75% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es in September.
But the number of people waiting more than 12 hours from the decision to admit to actually being admitted – known as “corridor care” – stood at 44,765, a jump from 35,909 in August.
Describing her experience, a 79-year-old woman from south London told Age UK: “The corridors were lined with patients on trolleys, hooked up to drips, some moaning in pain.
“It reminded me of war films, with queues of stretchers and people suffering.”
Others spoke of “puddles of urine” on the floor as immobile patients are unable to go to the toilet – and patients being forced to use bedpans in corridors.
The report raises concerns that poor quality care “is now almost expected” in some A&E departments and warns the situation could “get worse” as the NHS heads into winter.
One person said her friend’s mother was left waiting “ages when she was having a heart attack, and died before receiving any care”.
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Age UK said many patients are now unwilling to go to A&E, even if they are in a life-threatening situation.
It called on the government to “urgently” tackle corridor care, with specific deadlines for ending long waits, as it warned older people have been disproportionately affected.
Responding to the criticism, health minister Karin Smyth told Sky News: “The stories in this report are heartbreaking.
“No one should receive care in a corridor – it’s unacceptable, undignified, and we are determined to end it.
“To tackle a problem, you’ve got to be honest about it. For the first time, the NHS will measure and publish the number of patients waiting in corridors.”
The government is investing £450m to build same-day urgent and emergency care centres, buy 500 new ambulances, build 40 new mental health crisis centres, and give NHS leaders on the ground more power to deliver local solutions.
Ms Smyth also urged people to get vaccinated, as flu season has arrived weeks earlier than usual.
“I’ll be at that gate with my kilt,” says Inverness protester Thomas.
He was one of the first people Sky News met as we visited the Highland city preparing to welcome 300 male asylum seekers at a 150-year-old army barracks just minutes from the High Street.
But if our experience testing the temperature is anything to go by, it seems the welcome will be far from the traditional hospitality this part of the world is famous for.
The Scottish Highlands currently has no asylum seekers, according to the latest Home Office data. It makes it a unique part of Britain as other communities witness rising numbers of arrivals.
The UK government is planning drastic changes in the coming weeks. It announced plans to bring 309 male asylum seekers to Cameron army barracks in Inverness.
The military base was built in 1876 and now looks set to become Britain’s most northern migrant centre as officials aim to cut the use of costly asylum seeker hotels.
An aerial view of the barracks being earmarked by the government
Thomas, who did not want to share his full name, said he had signed a petition against the proposals and hinted he was ready to campaign against it.
He said: “I’ll be at that gate with my kilt on.
“I’ll be there with posters and shouting ‘get tae’. I think we are more scared. I think it’s more invasion.”
Fellow protester Chloe said: “Everyone is scared. I am worried for my child.”
She cited the recent conviction of migrant Deng Chol Majek, who stabbed hotel worker Rhiannon Whyte to death with a screwdriver in the West Midlands.
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Another man, who did not want to provide his name, told Sky News he was previously homeless.
“It’s disgusting. It’s a shambles. I wouldn’t want to say what I’d do to them (migrants) but I wouldn’t be putting them in the barracks,” he told us.
He concluded: “We should ship them back to their own country. They don’t deserve to be in this country.”
‘Extreme views’
I also met offshore wind engineer Kai Fraser, who said: “I have no problem with them being here. There are a few people who have got really big problems with it which are unfounded. They need to go somewhere.
“It is peddled by Farage and his ilk. It is exposing quite a few folks’ extreme views that were traditionally hidden behind closed doors.”
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Since the announcement was made by the Home Office, it has emerged Cameron Barracks requires a £1m revamp, including new boilers and the possible removal of asbestos.
Contract tender documents seen by The Times suggested the work was due to begin in January, weeks after the asylum seekers were supposed to be moving in.
There are questions over whether the arrivals could be delayed over fears of a legal challenge from migrants over the conditions. Councillors in Inverness are set to meet in the coming days amid suggestions they could use planning laws to block the plans.
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Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said UK ministers, who are responsible for the asylum system, had made “another mess”.
He said: “What will be the availability of healthcare services? What will be the availability of support services? We have no answers to these questions. The Home Office has given no answers whatsoever.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels.
“This government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well underway, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities.
“We are working closely with local authorities, property partners and across government so that we can accelerate delivery.”
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