Covid chaos in Boris Johnson’s government led to 23,000 deaths, damning inquiry finds
A damning report into pandemic decision-making has revealed that the chaos at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government and its failure to take Covid-19 seriously has led to 23,000 deaths.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry also found that then-prime minister and chief adviser Dominic Cummings presided over a “toxic and chaotic culture” at the heart of No 10 where women’s views were ignored.
The report found that more than 20,000 lives could have been saved in England if the lockdown had been implemented just a week earlier, in March 2020.
Both Westminster and the devolved countries were accused of doing “too little, too late” as the virus spread across the country.
Children were ordered home from school and families missed the chance to say a final goodbye to their dying relatives when precautions were finally put in place.
From 16 March 2020, self-isolation and social distancing came into force, with schools and pubs closed at the end of that week, before ministers took the unprecedented step of ordering the first full lockdown on 23 March.
“If stricter restrictions other than the ‘stay at home’ lockdown had been introduced before March 16 […] “The mandatory isolation imposed could have been shorter or possibly not necessary at all,” the report said.
However, if the mandatory lockdown had been in place from 16 March, “modelling suggested that the number of deaths in England in the first wave by 1 July 2020 would have fallen by 48 per cent, equivalent to around 23,000 fewer deaths”.
The report also found that:
- Partygate and other examples of Covid rule breaches have caused “huge distress” to the public, particularly “bereaved people who followed the rules and guidance despite huge personal and financial costs”. The Downing Street party saga in particular has led to a “self-reported” drop in the number of rule-abiding people over Christmas 2021.
- Mr Johnson “repeatedly changed his mind about whether to impose tougher restrictions” in September and October 2020 and “failed to make timely decisions”. The report says his “release enabled the virus to continue to spread rapidly” and led to the second four-week lockdown in November.
- The “Help Out” scheme, which offered discounts on restaurant meals in summer 2020 to provide cash for the struggling hospitality industry, was “designed in the absence of scientific advice” and “undermined public health messaging”. Mr Johnson and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, “failed to seek scientific advice” about the potential risks of the plan, despite taking advice from chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty (now Sir) on the risks of indoor environments.
- Attempts to relax rules over Christmas 2020 to allow people to gather with their families – which later had to be scaled back or reversed – “raised false hopes” among the public.
- The then health secretary, Matt Hancock, “earned a reputation among senior officials and advisers at 10 Downing Street for over-promising and under-delivering”; Sir Chris Wormald, now the country’s most senior civil servant and then running the Department for Health and Social Care, “did not correct the over-enthusiastic impression” he gave to No 10. Actions between them “obscured the truth and obscured the need for further action” in the spring. 2020.
- “There was no clear plan setting out the arrangements” and Dominic Raab was “not sure how to do the job” when Mr Johnson was incapacitated by Covid. “There was no clear plan setting out the arrangements that would be put in place to ensure continuity of leadership and decision-making.” The report stated that “it is not clear how critical decisions will be taken” if the then prime minister falls ill or does not recover at the beginning of March before “important decisions” are taken.
The inquiry heard evidence about the “destabilizing behavior of a number of individuals”, including Mr Cummings, who was then a senior adviser to the Prime Minister.
“By failing to deal with this chaotic culture, and at times actively encouraging it, Mr Johnson has reinforced a culture in which the loudest voices dominate and the views of other colleagues, particularly women, are often ignored, to the detriment of good decision-making,” the report said.
Mr Johnson is also said to have “failed to appreciate the urgency of the situation” in the early days as the virus began to spread, resulting in his “optimism that it would amount to nothing”.
Mr Cummings was described as a “destabilizing influence” whose behavior “contributed significantly to the culture of fear, mutual distrust and suspicion that poisoned the atmosphere at 10 Downing Street and undermined the prime minister’s authority”.
Mr Cummings, best known for the Barnard Castle scandal in which he traveled from London to County Durham during the lockdown, “stepped away from his role as a special adviser” and “at 10 Downing Street tried to make the key decisions the prime minister should have made”.
The head of the inquiry, Heather Hallett, who released the report on Thursday afternoon, said “all four governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat or the urgency of the response it demanded” as the virus spread in early 2020.
He said leaders in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were “given enviable choices about how to respond” and “whatever decision they took, there was often no right answer or good outcome”.
“They also had to make decisions under extreme pressure,” he added. “However, I can summarize my findings regarding the response as ‘too little, too late’.”
The publication of the report followed a series of hearings at which more than 160 witnesses, including Mr Johnson, Mr Cummings and Mr Hancock, took evidence.
They were questioned about measures such as public testing, social distancing and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which is hoped could provide cash to businesses forced to close in the spring.
The investigation is ongoing and publications on modules covering topics such as vaccines, children and young people, and the economic response to the pandemic are expected at a later date.
Reacting to the report on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said the “next crisis” would be opposed “from a position of national resilience”. He also said the government would “respond in due course” to the findings of Baroness Hallett’s report.
Grieving families said Mr Johnson “put his political reputation ahead of public safety” and “fawned over his critics”.
Following the report’s publication, Covid-19 Bereaved Families in the UK said for Justice: “While the evidence from the inquiry is clear and justified in seeing Boris Johnson held accountable in black and white for the disastrous mismanagement of the pandemic, it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister.
“We now know that if it were not for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues, many of our family members would still be alive today.
“He fawned over his critics when the UK needed decisive action.”
