Covid Inquiry: The extraordinary WhatsApp messages that reveal the ‘chaos’ of Boris Johnson’s government
This story was first published in October 2023 and has been republished as: Covid Research announced its findings It’s about the government’s handling of the pandemic.
A series of scathing WhatsApp messages sent among Boris Johnson’s senior team accused the former prime minister of making the fight against Covid “impossible” by creating chaos and changing course “every day”.
Extraordinary messages between the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case reveal strong unrest among Mr Johnson’s advisers; Mr Case, the cabinet secretary and senior civil servant, says at one point: “I’m at the end of my rope.”
The former Prime Minister’s senior officials also branded him “weak and indecisive” and referred to him as a “tram”. Meanwhile, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said Mr Johnson was “all over the place” and “completely incoherent”.
WhatsApp messages and diary entries shown to Mr Johnson’s former principal private secretary Martin Reynolds at the official Covid inquiry have revealed the chaos behind Downing Street’s response to Covid.
In an explosive three-hour testimony about his time as Mr Johnson’s PPS, Mr Reynolds was asked about everything from the government’s pandemic preparedness to his own role in the Partygate scandal over lockdown breakers.
The former senior civil servant, nicknamed “Party Marty”, has since apologized “unreservedly” for sending an email to more than 100 Downing Street staff during lockdown inviting them to a “bring your own booze” garden party.
He also admitted that the government’s preparedness to tackle Covid was “grossly inadequate” and that officials were operating “without a proper playbook”.
Extraordinary WhatsApp conversations and notes taken when important decisions were made were shown in the investigation.
In an entry in his diary, Sir Patrick wrote: “As usual, number 10 is chaos.
“It became clear at the two-metre rule meeting on Friday that no one in Number 10 or the Cabinet Office had actually read or taken the time to understand the scientific advice on two metres. It is quite extraordinary.”
In other writings, Sir Patrick described how he felt scientists were being “used as human shields” by ministers.
On September 19, 2020, when a potential “circuit breaker” lockdown came up for discussion, he wrote: “Johnson is all over the place and so inconsistent. You can see why it was so difficult to get an agreement on the lockdown the first time.”
In a devastating exchange of messages between Mr Case, the then cabinet secretary, and Mr Cummings, then Downing Street’s chief of staff, Mr Johnson was described as “creating chaos”.
Mr Case said: “I’m at the end of my rope. It changes strategic direction every day (Monday we were all fearful of the virus returning as per Europe, March etc – today we’re in ‘let it rip’ mode because the UK is deplorable, needs a cold shower etc)
“He cannot lead with this approach and we cannot support him in leading. The team captain cannot change the call for big plays every day. The team cannot deliver anything under these conditions.”
Listing other cabinet ministers, he said: “A weak team (like ours – Hancock, Williamson, Dido, No10/CO, Perm Secs) simply cannot succeed in these conditions. IT HAS TO STOP! Decide and set direction – deliver – explain. Government really isn’t that hard, but this man really makes it impossible.”
Mr Cain replied: “I totally agree. I’m already getting a lot of desperate messages from people who have had meetings with him. And as usual he’s floating around on WhatsApp, creating chaos and undermining everyone.”
In another submission to the inquiry, Mr Cummings accused Mr Johnson of going into “full trolley mode”, a reference to his tendency to veer between issues.
Regarding the now-infamous BYOB email towards the end of the session, Mr Reynolds said: “I would first like to say how sorry I am for my part in these events and the email message sent that day.
“And I want to apologize unreservedly to the families of all those who have suffered during Covid for any distress I have caused.”
