Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak faced the harsh scrutiny of the Public Inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic after their highly anticipated testimonies. Both faced questions ranging from the Government’s handling of COVID, the usage of WhatsApp for Parliamentary business and the “toxic” atmosphere within Downing Street.

“I should have twigged” – Johnson under fire for not acting fast enough

Boris Johnson conceded at the inquiry that earlier action could have been taken against Covid in his appearance at the enquiry. After expressing remorse for the “pain, loss and suffering” faced by Covid victims, he went on to say that “we made mistakes” regarding the times of lockdowns but insisted that the Government did their “level best” to grapple with the virus.

The former PM denied that there was a “toxic” culture within No. 10 in the face of often incendiary WhatsApp messages between him and others in Downing Street being disclosed, saying the fact that people around him were "naturally self-critical, and critical of others" was a good thing. However, he also said that Downing Street had a problem with gender balance, saying that "too many meetings were male-dominated".

It was a testimony that was far from the usual theatrics from Johnson. Compared to the more argumentative approach he took to defend himself on a similar inquiry about Partygate, he was more measured and grounded after he apparently spent large amounts of time with lawyers before his appearance.

“Eat Out to Help Out curbed devastating job losses” – Sunak defends his decisions and views

Rishi Sunak spent the majority of the time at the inquiry robustly defending his flagship “Eat Out To Help Out” policy. After being heckled on entering the inquiry building, he apologized to “all those who suffered in the various different ways throughout the pandemic as a result of the actions that were taken".

The Eat Out to Help Out scheme was under fire for possibly increasing rate of infection and causing excess deaths and hospitalisation. Government aides and scientists were reportedly not consulted on the impacts of the policy, with former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and former Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance saying in their appearances at the inquiry that they were unaware of the scheme before it was announced.

The former Chancellor said that it was “a very reasonable, sensible policy intervention to help safeguard those jobs in that safe reopening”, going on to say that it was “it was the right thing to do”. It was true that Eat Out to Help Out did help out a struggling hospitality sector and the wider economy, though according to a representative of industry body UK Hospitality, a greater benefit was reaped from the furlough scheme and business rates relief. However, as much as it may have benefited the economy, it also increased the rate of transmission as people came together to socialize, even in well ventilated and socially distanced environments. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty is known to have characterized the policy as “Eat Out to Help Out the Virus” amongst other references to Sunak as “Dr Death”.

In PMQs, the Labour representative for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq challenged Rishi Sunak on his supposed view that he could “just let people die and that’s okay”, as written in Sir Patrick Vallance’s diary. The PM responded by saying that “the chief scientific adviser confirmed that he did not hear me say that—and that is because I did not.”

 

The Covid inquiry has finished proceedings for the year. A report on findings is anticipated for 2024, along with public hearings on the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems to take place in Autumn 2024.