What you’ve missed at the Covid inquiry

Good morning, and welcome to Dorland House, a one-time hotel in west London where former high court judge Baroness Hallett is chairing the independent public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is here that we have heard heartbreaking stories from the families of some of the 229,765 people who died from Covid, and seen the release of shockingly frank WhatsApp messages between ministers and their advisers.

Newly released messages from the depths of the crisis show the UK’s most senior civil servant said the government’s handling of the crisis was a “terrible, tragic joke”, and joked that Boris Johnson’s wife, Carrie, was “the real person in charge”.

This week the inquiry is hearing from key scientists, who have criticised the lockdowns as a “failure of public health policy” and claimed they were “used as human shields” by ministers.

The hearings are set to turn blockbuster over the next few weeks as first Dominic Cummings and civil service chief Simon Case will take the witness stand, followed in November by Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and five other former ministers.

After the headlines, we’ll catch up with what’s happened at the inquiry so far and what Johnson and Sunak can expect when they’re called to give evidence.

Five big stories

In depth: Government infighting, chaos comms and who was really in charge

WhatsApp messages and personal diaries – eventually – released to the inquiry reveal a “depressing picture of a toxic atmosphere, factional infighting and internecine attacks on colleagues”, according to Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry.

Cummings, Johnson’s most senior adviser at the time, put it rather more bluntly in messages to colleagues describing the Cabinet Office as “terrifyingly shit, no plans, totally behind pace” when considering ordering the first national lockdown on 12 March 2020. Johnson announced the unprecedented first UK lockdown 11 days later on 23 March. Four days later, Cummings broke the lockdown rules by driving to Durham.

A ‘terrible, tragic joke’

In messages discussing enforcing another lockdown in the autumn, Simon Case, who had been permanent secretary at 10 Downing Street and was appointed as head of the civil service in September 2020, warned that the government didn’t have the “credibility” to impose lockdowns after ministers repeatedly flip-flopped on what to do. “We look like a terrible, tragic joke. If we were going hard, that decision was needed weeks ago. I cannot cope with this.”

In a WhatsApp group chat with Cummings and former No 10 communications director Lee Cain, Case said ministers’ decisions appeared to be driven by “whatever Carrie [Johnson’s wife] cares about”.

“I was always told that Dom [Dominic Cummings] was the secret PM. How wrong they are. I look forward to telling select [the Commons select committee] tomorrow – ‘oh, f*** no, don’t worry about Dom, the real person in charge is Carrie’.”

And those are the WhatsApps we will see …

The government fought a long legal battle to prevent the full release of WhatsApp and Signal messages to the inquiry, but the high court ruled in July that it must hand over two years’ worth of messages from ministers and nearly 40 other senior figures and advisers.

However, neither Johnson nor Sunak can provide months’ worth of messages sent during the height of the crisis. Sunak claims he does “not have access” to months of messages from when he was chancellor because he changed phones frequently and didn’t back up the chat. The missing period includes when he launched the controversial “eat out to help out” scheme designed to encourage people to go out to restaurants. It cost £850m and was subsequently linked to a jump in Covid cases. No epidemiologist was officially consulted on the scheme beforehand.

Johnson has told the inquiry that he is unable to access messages between 31 January and 7 June 2020 – which covers the first three months of the pandemic – despite the phone he was using then being in action until the following spring. “The technical team [helping him access the phone] has been unable to determine the cause of this,” he said in a statement to the inquiry.

Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “The lengths they are going to to cover up these WhatsApps … are absolutely obscene. If half as much effort was put into learning from the mishandling of the pandemic as has been put into hiding critical evidence from the inquiry, we would be in a better position when the next pandemic comes.”

The fight over Sir Patrick Vallance’s ‘brain dump’ diary

While ministers and their advisers were busy messaging each other at all times of the day and night in more than 250 different WhatsApp groups, the then-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance was writing a deeply frank “brain dump” diary before turning in each night.

In one note, Vallance wrote: “Number 10 chaos as usual. On Friday, the two-metre rule meeting made it abundantly clear that no one in Number 10 or the Cabinet Office had really read or taken time to understand the science advice on two metres. Quite extraordinary.”

In other entries in his “evening notes” he said scientists were “used as human shields” by ministers and officials, and he accused No 10 of “cherry-picking” from scientific advice in order to publicly claim they were “following the science” when announcing potentially unpopular decisions.

While Vallance handed over the diaries to the inquiry, they have not been shown on the big screen at Dorland House or on the livestreamed coverage. Only specific extracts have been read out by lawyers.

Victims’ families – and the media – are now calling on Hallet to rule that his diary enteries should be displayed in context like the other evidence. A lawyer representing Vallance said they shouldn’t be, as the notes were only written as a “brain dump” to protect his mental health. “A form of release which helped him focus on the challenges of the next day rather than dwelling on the events of the past.”

What might Johnson expect to be asked?

The inquiry has sent 150 questions to Johnson in advance, so we have a good idea of how his two-day appearance might play out. One asks: “In or around autumn 2020, did you state that you would rather ‘Let the bodies pile high’ than order another lockdown, or words to that effect?”

Another is: “Why did you not attend any Cobra meetings in relation to Covid-19 prior to 2 March 2020, given the seriousness of the emergency?”

And one that could be troublesome for both Johnson and Sunak, asks: “What discussions did you have with the then-chancellor about the eat out to help out scheme prior to its implementation in August 2020?”

How to grab a seat

If you want to watch Johnson answer questions under oath in person, keep an eye on the witness timetable here for the exact date he will appear (it’s updated every Thursday). You can then reserve a seat for the hearing by filling in this form. The hearings are also broadcast live on the inquiry’s website and on YouTube.

What else we’ve been reading

In this edition of the Black Lives series, Hannah Flint spoke to the legendary Bethann Hardison(pictured above), a model and agent who transformed the fashion industry by forcing it to acknowledge its entrenched racism. Nimo

Would you describe Taylor Swift as a “literary giant”? University professor Elly McCausland thinks so, and believes students learn best when content is “fresh and vibrant”. She writes here about her new English literature course at Ghent University that delves into the meaning of Miss Swift’s lyrics. Nyima Jobe, newsletters team

Pro-democracy Hongkongers who fled their homes to find safety in Britain have spoken to the Guardian about the continued harassment they face from the Chinese government and the lack of support from the UK government to protect them from the CCP. Nimo

Something else to worry about, sorry, but this NYT story is fascinating: it’s about a “bird-killing” Central Park tower with glass so shiny thousands of birds are crashing into and dying. Bird strikes extend to hundreds of skyscrapers around the world, especially around now when young migratory birds encounter towers for the first time: “They don’t understand that reflections of sky and trees aren’t the real thing.” Rupert

Check out these breathtaking photographs from the Magnum square print sale. They perfectly depict what separates images generated by AI from photographs taken by humans. Nimo

Sport

Football | Harry Kane scored twice as England beat Italy on home soil for the first time since 1977 to book their place at Euro 2024.

Cricket | The Netherlands completed a famous 38-run win over South Africa to add further intrigue to the pool stage at the Cricket World Cup. Two days after Afghanistan had humbled holders England, the in-form South Africans were well beaten by the Dutch in a rain-affected game in Dharamsala that was reduced to 43 overs a side.

Rugby | England are waiting on the fitness of Marcus Smith before finalising plans for the World Cup semi-final against South Africa on Saturday, with Freddie Steward waiting in the wings.

The front pages

A blast at a Gaza hospital dominates many of the front pages. The Guardian says “Hundreds feared dead in Gaza hospital strike” above a picture of an injured Palestinian woman and child. In the Mail the headline is “Hospital horror: Who’s to blame?”. The Times says “Outrage at hospital attack” as the Telegraph says “Biden visits Israel as hundreds die in Gaza hospital”. The i also focusses on the blast, saying “Hundreds killed sheltering at hospital – as Israel denies air strike”. In the Financial Times “Gaza health ministry says hundreds killed in Israeli air strike on hospital”. The Mirror takes a broader view, saying “Middle East crisis spirals” and “This must end”. In the Sun the focus is on the British teenager killed after the Hamas attack with the headline “Inside horror house where Brit girl, 13, was slain”.

Today in Focus

Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

Corner shops, convenience stores, newsagents: whatever you call them, the small businesses nearby that stock everything from niche groceries to stationery to booze and vapes are a staple of British life. Convenience stores (such as Londis N16, pictured above) have defied the predictions that online shopping and the pandemic would crater their sector – instead they have adapted to the needs of their communities, adding deli counters and services including dry cleaning, key cutting, energy bill payments and parcel collection. This ingenuity and flexibility has helped corner shops thrive despite numerous economic downturns. As a result, the number of convenience stores in the UK increased by almost 1,000 over the last 12 months.

While these shops still face significant pressures, the demand for them continues to grow and if their history tells us anything it is that they will keep transforming to keep up with modern British life: “They reinvent themselves all the time,” journalist Babita Sharma says. “It’s like the cat that’s got nine lives.”

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Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.

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