Chilling evidence to the Covid Inquiry has claimed Rishi Sunak believed ministers should “just let people die and that’s okay” during the pandemic.
Sir Patrick Vallance, who was the Chief Scientific Adviser until this year, shared private diaries with the probe detailing his daily notes about the battle with the virus. The bombshell extracts reveal the callous and chaotic atmosphere in Government as top ministers dithered over imposing restrictions to curb the spread of Covid.
In a day of revelations, Sir Patrick described how Boris Johnson was "bamboozled" by graphs and data and the ex-PM appeared "broken" as he warned "we are too s*** to get our act together. Sir Patrick also said it was "highly likely" that Mr Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme drove up Covid deaths and scientists weren't told about the plan to get people back into restaurants before it was announced in August 2020.
Extracts from his diary also claim ministers were reluctant to impose a second national lockdown, with Mr Johnson arguing for "letting it all rip". He also noted that Dominic Cummings said Mr Sunak said the Government should "just let people die".
Here is some of the most shocking evidence from today's hearing.
1. Claims Rishi Sunak thought 'just let people die' rather than bring in second lockdown
Explosive extracts from Sir Patrick's diary on October 25 2020 describe Boris Johnson throwing papers and arguing in favour of letting "it all rip" as pressure mounted over the need for a second national lockdown. The entry says the Prime Minister said although there would be more casualties, people had had "a good innings".
It also shows Dominic Cummings arguing that Rishi Sunak thinks "just let people die and that's okay". Sir Patrick noted: "This all feels like a complete lack of leadership".
No10 declined to comment on the claims while the Inquiry is ongoing.
2. 'Highly likely' Eat Out to Help Out increased Covid deaths - but scientists not told in advance
Scientists were not told about Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme until it was announced - and would have warned that it would drive up infection, Sir Patrick said. The discounted meals policy to encourage people to return to restaurants in August 2020 has been previously blamed for a surge in cases by scientists and critics of the scheme.
But in the first criticism from the Government, Sir Patrick said: "It would have been very obvious to anyone that this would inevitably cause and increase in transmission risk, and I think that would have been obvious to ministers."
Mr Sunak said he did not recall "any concerns about the scheme being expressed during ministerial discussions" in his witness statement but Sir Patrick contradicted him, saying scientists were "not involved".
Pressed on whether it led to an increase in deaths, Sir Patrick Vallance told the Inquiry it was "highly likely". No 10 would not be drawn on whether the PM had consulted scientists before announcing the scheme.
3. Frustration at 'weak' and 'indecisive' Boris Johnson
SAGE experts said a package of restrictions would be needed to curb the spread of the virus in September 2020 but the calls were resisted. Sir Patrick's diaries reveal frustration at the dithering by ministers and pressure from right-wing newspapers to open up.
"He is so inconsistent," he wrote of Mr Johnson on October 28. "We have a weak indecisive PM" and described the right-wing press as "culpable" in decision-making on Covid measures.
4. 'Broken' Boris Johnson warned 'we are too s**t to get our act together'
A gloomy Mr Johnson asked if "we are licked as a species" after returning from a Battle of Britain memorial event, where he was distressed by seeing people in masks and observing social distancing rules.
A diary entry from September 2020 showed the PM asked: "Is it because of the great libertarian nation we are that it spreads so much. Maybe we are licked as a species’... ‘We are too s*** to get our act together.’"
5. Rishi Sunak said focus should be on 'handling scientists' not virus
Rishi Sunak was overheard saying ministers should focus on "handling the scientists, not handling the virus", according to a note in Sir Patrick's diary.
The July 2 2020 entry states: "They then got flustered when the CMO [Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty] chipped in later and they realised he had been there all along. PM [Boris Johnson] blustered and waffled for five mins to cover his embarrassment."
6. Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by graphs and 'hard work' to get him to understand
The diaries include multiple examples of Mr Johnson being "bamboozled" or "confused" by science. Sir Patrick told the Inquiry that the ex-PM wasn't unique among world leaders in struggling to understand complicated concepts but it was "hard work" to make sure he understood.
One of Sir Patrick's diary entries from May 4, 2020 said: "Late afternoon meeting with the PM on schools. My God, this is complicated. Models will not provide the answer. PM is clearly bamboozled."
Other extracts, also written in May 2020, said: "PM asking whether we've overdone it on the lethality of this disease. He swings between optimism pessimism, and then this. PM still confused on different types of test. He holds it in his head for a session and then it goes." In June, Sir Patrick wrote: "Watching the PM get his head round stats is awful. He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand."
He also described a short period after Mr Johnson was struck down by Covid where he was "really unwell" and struggled to "concentrate on things".
7. Rishi Sunak 'not pleased' by idea of London lockdown
Sir Patrick said he pushed for imposing lockdown in London earlier as Covid was spreading rapidly - something that annoyed Rishi Sunak, who was Chancellor at the time. He said: "I made that point at the meeting. It was discussed, there was a very clear rejection of that proposal. And certainly, I don't think the Chancellor looked terribly pleased at that moment."
When asked why Mr Sunak was not pleased, Sir Patrick said: "Well, quite rightly, he's concerned about the economy and London is very much the engine of the economy."
8. Patrick Vallance told off by 'incandescent' Whitehall chief for call for more restrictions in March 2020
The top scientist said he was reprimanded for calling for tougher measures to prevent the virus spiralling in March 2020. Department of Health's top official Sir Chris Wormald was "incandescent with rage" at his suggestion, he said. Sir Patrick said Sir Chris had told him it "was the manner of raising it in the meeting rather than the substance that he was concerned about", but Sir Patrick said: "I stand by the fact that I think it was the right thing to say at the time."
Sir Patrick said he was concerned at the operational response" at start of the pandemic and detailed the conflicting views in Government about lockdown measures. Asked whether there was tension between himself and England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty, he said Sir Chris was of the view that "pulling the trigger to do things too early could lead to adverse consequences" such as the indirect harm of people isolating, loneliness and deaths from other causes. Sir Patrick said these were appropriate concerns for Sir Chris but that he had wanted to move on Covid earlier.
9. Matt Hancock had a habit of saying things that weren't true
Sir Patrick also stuck the boot into former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has come under sustained criticism for his actions during the pandemic. Asked about his conduct, Sir Patrick said: "I think he had a habit of saying things which he didn't have a basis for and he would say them too enthusiastically, too early, without the evidence to back them up, and then have to backtrack from them days later.
"I don't know to what extent that was sort of over-enthusiasm versus deliberate - I think a lot of it was over-enthusiasm. He definitely said things which surprised me because I knew that the evidence base wasn't there." When asked if this meant he "said things that weren't true", Sir Patrick answered "yes".