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The chaos at the heart of the UK response to the Covid-19 pandemic was laid bare on Monday as private messages from the government’s most senior civil servant claimed Boris Johnson changed “strategic direction every day” as the crisis unfolded.
In WhatsApp exchanges, cabinet secretary Simon Case told Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings, “I am at end of my tether”, adding that the government was made up of “weak” ministers and civil servants.
In messages dated from late 2020, Case wrote: “He [Johnson] cannot lead and we cannot support him in leading with this approach.”
He went on: “He changes strategic direction every day (Monday we were all about fear of virus returning as per Europe, March etc — today we’re in ‘let it rip’ mode cos the UK is pathetic, needs a cold shower etc.”
The official public Covid inquiry is examining the government’s response to the pandemic, including the UK’s preparedness and senior decision-making. It is due to run until the summer of 2026.
Lee Cain, Johnson’s former communications chief, and Cummings are due to testify on Tuesday.
Martin Reynolds, who headed the private office of the prime minister, in his evidence to the hearing said the government’s planning for the Covid-19 pandemic had been “inadequate”.
He added that ministers should have been “more vigorously testing our arrangements for what was coming” and he accepted that the plans put in place in March 2020 were “grossly deficient”.
Reynolds was challenged on why there was no record of any communication between himself and Johnson on the topic of coronavirus policy during the February 2020 half-term as the disease was spreading.
He said he could not recall any reason for the absence of messages. Pushed on why Johnson had not been briefed on the crisis during the 10-day period, he responded: “I probably should have.”
In May 2020, when England was under lockdown, Reynolds, dubbed “Party Marty” by the tabloid media, organised a “bring your own booze” event for more than 100 staff in the Downing Street garden. Reynolds apologised “unreservedly” on Monday for his part in organising the gathering.
The inquiry also heard that just weeks before the investigation into the government’s pandemic response was announced, Reynolds switched on a “disappearing message function” in a WhatsApp group between senior Number 10 staff.
Reynolds said he was unable to recall why he had decided to change the settings in April 2021 but said it might have been “because I was worried of someone screenshotting or using some of the exchanges and leaking them”.
Reynolds admitted that after Johnson’s 2019 election victory, the leadership’s attention was focused “on other things” including the “divergent politics” between Johnson and Cummings.
He said there had been “unease” over Cumming’s so-called “shitlist” of civil servants who felt at risk of losing their jobs under what was seen as a “potentially more muscular approach” to running Whitehall. Cummings was the “most empowered” chief of staff ever to work in Number 10, he added.
Reynolds added that Johnson “did blow hot and cold” when it came to making decisions during the pandemic, including the “most difficult choices the country was facing”.
Imran Shafi, former private secretary to Johnson for public services, agreed with the assertion from Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel for the inquiry, that there had been a “high degree of dysfunctionality in terms of dealing with the prime minister.”
The inquiry also heard that Johnson had met Russian businessman Lord Evgeny Lebedev as the government was responding to the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
The pair had a phone call on March 18, 2020, which was followed by a private meeting the following day, according to documents submitted.
Johnson nominated Lebedev, a close friend and proprietor of the Evening Standard newspaper, for a peerage soon after he became prime minister.
