Covid Inquiry RECAP: Boris Johnson said wearing masks was 'b*****ks' as UK must learn to 'die'

That's it for the day

The Covid Inquiry has finished for the day.

You can read our write up of a dramatic day of evidence here.

Internal review described No10 culture as a "superhero bunfight"

Raab is presented with an internal review document from May 2020 which raised concerns about the culture in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office.

It points to Cabinet Office not having a clear grip on things and a macho culture in No10, where junior women are being talked over.

Inquiry laywer Andrew O'Connor says the document describes the culture in No10 as a "superhero bunfight".

Raab says he doesn't agree with everything in the document as things are "never perfectly manicured" during a crisis.

Emergency conditions often create "tension and combustibility", he argues.

Raab given 'five minutes notice' he was stepping in for Covid-stricken Boris Johnson

Dominic Raab says in his witness statement that he discussed deputising for Boris Johnson if he was "indisposed" but said this was an unusual thing to happen.

He said contingency planning of this kind was "sparse". "I was effectively really told on five minutes notice," he said.

Raab said his main priority was trying to "steady the ship" and reassure both ministers and the public that Government was functioning and Mr Johnson was going to be okay.

He said he didn't want anyone thinking, "Dom Raab is enjoying this a bit too much because I wasn't".

Raab says it would be useful to have similar steps in place in future in case the PM becomes indisposed again.

Dominic Raab admits he went on skiing holiday as Covid hit

Dominic Raab went on a skiing holiday with his family in the February half term in 2020, even after Covid had arrived in the UK.

The Tory former minister, who was Foreign Secretary at the time, defended his decision to jet off. "Whether you're away very rarely [on holiday] or whether it's because you're travelling on business, you need to stay in touch with what's going on in Westminster, and that's just bread and butter."

Health chiefs announced on January 31, 2020 that two people in the UK had tested positive for the virus.

Mr Raab has previously faced criticism for his decision to stay on a family holiday in Crete in August 2021 as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.

Dominic Cummings was much needed 'grit in the oyster', says Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab has kicked off his evidence with a defence of former No10 adviser Dominic Cummings.

The former Deputy PM said: "I think Dominic Cummings - certainly on diagnosis, but also trying to galvanise direction of travel - was much needed some grit in the oyster."

Mr Raab dismissed suggestions that Boris Johnson was Mr Cummings' puppet. "I don't find that a serious allegation," he said. "I don't accept the characterisation there was a puppet regime."

Medical equipment must be designed so it works on all races, says Javid

Sajid Javid has raised concerns that the Government has failed to act on worries that medical equipment is not designed to be used on people of all races.

The Tory former minister said he was “deeply concerned” to discover that some devices were not effective on people with all skin colours.

“I was really taken aback by some of the things I learned as Health Secretary,” he said. “For example, I think around a third of people in ICU units in 2020 with Covid - so the most seriously ill - were from ethnic minority backgrounds.”

Mr Javid said when he was a minister he commissioned an independent review chaired by Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead to look “into medical instruments and how they work on people of all races”. He said he did not know why its findings still had not been published.

The panel was due to provide advice to the government by June 2023.

Mr Javid said he believed there should be a dedicated Equalities Minister in Government.

No10 doesn't deny that Rishi Sunak believed Government should 'just let people die'

Downing Street has repeatedly failed to deny that Rishi Sunak believed the Government should 'just let people die' during the pandemic.

The Covid Inquiry last week was shown bombshell diaries written by top scientist Sir Patrick Vallance as the country battled the virus. In an entry in October 2020, he recorded that Dominic Cummings had told him the then Chancellor was opposing lockdown restrictions. “DC says ‘Rishi Sunak thinks just let people die and that’s okay’,” he wrote.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Sunak said he had not said those words himself, but did not dispute that is what he thought. The Prime MInister's spokesman also did not deny this was his view.

"He will set out his full evidence for the inquiry when they request it of him," the spokeman said. Pushed on whether that was Mr Sunak's view, even if he did not say the words, the spokesman said: "I am limited in what I can say but obviously the PM has clearly set out his position, you will hear from him in detail when he gives evidence."

In response to a suggestion that it should not be difficult to say the Prime Minister did not think "let people die", the spokesman said: "I'm simply referring to the fact that the Prime Minister has been clear that he will set out his evidence in full to the inquiry at the time of their choosing. It's the inquiry we have empowered with the ability to investigate this and to draw conclusions rather than to do it in a piecemeal fashion that others may choose to do."

Inquiry breaks for lunch

The Inquiry has now paused for a lunch break.

Sajid Javid will return to finish his evidence this afternoon, then the Inquiry will grill Dominic Raab about his stint as Deputy PM, including when he stood in for Boris Johnson during his hospital stay.

Boris Johnson said wearing masks was 'b*****ks' and joked UK must learn to 'die' with Covid

The Inquiry is asking Sajid Javid about his stint as Health Secretary after Matt Hancock resigned in June 2021 when he broke his own Covid guidance by snogging his aide.

Mr Javid accepted he was more cautious than some ministers about lifting restrictions in July 2021 - on what was dubbed 'Freedom Day', as per a diary entry from Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

He said the virus was still around and he didn’t want the public to think that everything was “back to normal”.

Sir Patrick's diary from July 2 2021 suggests Javid said the country would have to learn to live with the virus - to which Boris Johnson quipped "and die with it".

The PM then ranted wearing masks was "b*****ks" and he didn't want to keep consulting trade unions, as people just needed to come back to work, the entry says.

The PM often said things where it was hard to tell whether it was what he thought or whether he was joking to "lighten the mood", Mr Javid said when asked about the remarks.

Chair Baroness Heather Hallett intervenes to say this remark could be taken in many ways and Mr Javid doesn't know this was to lighten the mood.

Javid did not attend early COBRA meetings in January and February

Sajid Javid did not attend early COBRA meetings in January and February as they were not chaired by the PM at that point so unusual for the Chancellor to attend, he says.

In late January, he says he became worried about the virus coming in from abroad after having conversations with friends outside Government.

He said Treasury's advice was not to stop flights as it would only work if other countries were doing the same.

He says he was sent a note by his team in the Treasury about the impact on the UK economy caused by the spread of the virus in China - but this was the view of the Treasury not the Government.

Requests made in Boris Johnson's name 'came from Cummings'

Sajid Javid said his private office sometimes got requests from No10 or the PM's office but these weren't from Mr Johnson.

“They might be anything from a request for information, request for detail, but also for policy change, or policy preference,” he told the Inquiry.

“On probing further, they would be coming from Mr Cummings.”

Mr Javid said he would tell the PM "I heard that you wanted this or you wanted that", but Mr Johnson "would sometimes just not even know that that request had come in his name".

Dominic Cummings sought to 'act as PM in all but name'

Sajid Javid revives his feud with Dominic Cummings, who he said tried to make all the key decisions in Downing Street in the early months of 2020.

The pair warred at the time, with Mr Javid eventually resigning in February after Mr Cummings tried to get him to sack his aides.

Cabinet 'inexperienced going into Covid' - with power held by Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson

Sajid Javid said in his witness statement that Boris Johnson's top team after the 2019 election had "less experience of Government" than previous Cabinets.

He said they weren't versed in "affairs of Government" and the team had been designed to make the PM and Dominic Cummings the decision makers.

He said there was a preference for "loyalty over experience" with power centralised in No10.

Asked about these comments, he said he believed ministers were sometimes excluded from decision-making.

Dominic Cummings had been given "a huge amount of responsibility and power" and was sometimes making decisions rather than the PM, he said.

Sajid Javid to give evidence next

Dame Jenny Harries has finished her evidence and there will now be a short break, before Sajid Javid has his turn in the witness box.

Mr Javid has held several Cabinet jobs but the Inquiry is particularly interested in his time as Chancellor from July 2019 to February 2020 - and when he became Health Secretary in June 2021 following Matt Hancock's resignation.

Harries worried masks would provide 'false sense of security'

Harries said she was resistant to home-made masks as she was worried people would get lax on other rules.

"One of the problems in May was when there were a lot of discussions about coming out of lockdown and opening up the economy and various other things - and the two metre, one metre (social distancing guidance)," she said.

"I think this was landing just about the same time as the 'one metre plus' issue.

"The problem we had there was that there appeared to be a view permeating through, and a real concern and risk, that it was being conceived that if you did one metre and you wore a face covering slung round your cheek, or whatever it might be, that was fine.

"So, there was a risk that in encouraging face (masks) people would stop doing the thing that was really important, which was distancing and all the other things."

Inquiry Chair Baroness Heather Hallett asked if this created a "false sense of security", Dame Jenny replied: "Yes, a false sense of security, but it was actually also overlapping with what was economically-driven policy, I think, to try and remove some of the distancing rules."

Michael Gove warned of ventilators 'sh**show' in WhatsApp messages

The Covid Inquiry has published further WhatsApp messages sent by Michael Gove after he appeared as a witness yesterday.

In an exchange with Dominic Cummings on March 23, 2020 - which was three days after the first lockdown was announced - Mr Gove warned about the situation with ventilators. "Can we discuss ventilators?" he wrote in a message to Mr Cummings who was a senior Downing Street adviser at the time.

"Sounds caboff [Cabinet Office] sh**show?" replied Mr Cummings, to which Mr Gove wrote: "All round sh**show."

Harries not convinced by use of face coverings in May 2020

Emails in May 2020 show Harries was unconvinced by the idea of asking people to wear homemade face coverings.

She wrote: "I think they are both [one square and two squares of fabric] ineffective but someone might want to come up with an answer for the Q&As" - meaning the daily press conferences.

Harries told the inquiry: "The evidence at the time said at least three layers.

"The reason I said I think it's ineffective was because the only evidence I think we had at the time was around three layers ... if (the guidance) said 'three', I'd have said, 'okay, but make the guidance consistent'."

Harries insists she wasn't relaxed about care homes crisis

Harries is on the defensive about these revelations, which she insists weren't policy.

"My message on the 16th ... this was a look ahead and think 'this is what will happen in due course', it doesn't give a timeframe.

"You should not take my email as to say 'the NHS is suddenly going to discharge lots of Covid-positive patients and that's absolutely fine'.

"What it was doing was painting a picture to the person who was contributing to policy on the official side at the Department of Health."

She added: "I'm really keen to emphasise my email was a high-level view so people were aware of what was kind of coming over the hill, but the hill was still a little way away."

Harries grilled on email saying people with Covid should be 'discharged to care homes'

Harries was shown a document from Department of Health asking her for advice on discharging people who've tested positive for Covid into care homes.

In the email, the top medic said: "I believe the reality will be we will need to discharge Covid positive patients into a residential setting."

She warned "numbers of people with disease will rise sharply" in the email - but told the Inquiry she meant in the wider population, not in care homes.

Care home policy during the pandemic remains hugely controversial after the virus ripped through the vulnerable population.

More than 17,000 excess deaths occurred in England's care homes by August 2020.

Questioned about the email, Harries admitted it "sounds awful" but she meant to offer "a very, very high level view" of what would happen if there was an "enormous explosion of cases".

She said: "It was a very bleak picture because I think the reality was this isn't an invitation to be discharging Covid patients, it's actually a reality that says if hospitals overflow ... those who are physically well to go will go."

Dame Jenny Harries resumes her evidence

Dame Jenny Harries has resumed giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry this morning, after kicking off last night.

The former Deputy Chief Medical Officer is facing questions on Government decisions in the run up to the first lockdown - including on why people with Covid were sent back into care homes.

Raab likely to be quizzed about running the country in Johnson's absence

Dominic Raab is expected to be questioned about chairing the various committees and meetins in No10 at the height of the pandemic in April 2020 when the Prime Minister was admitted to intensive care.

Mr Raab, as Boris Johnson's deputy, was thrust to the centre of power in Downing Street as the country came to terms with the early days of lockdown.

He is set to be grilled about information he received, updates from officials - and potentially how his stlye contrasted with that of the Premier.

Jenny Harries to give evidence this morning

The former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries, who is now the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, is due to appear at the Covid Inquiry this morning.

She is one of the most senior health officials to give evidence to Baroness Heather Hallett's probe.

She will be followed by former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who took over from Matt Hancock, and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.

Dominic Raab took over when Boris Johnson was hospitalised

Dominic Raab was asked to deputise for Boris Johnson on April 6, 2020, when the PM was admitted to intensive care.

He took two virtual PMQs sessions as Mr Johnson was treated and during his recovery. He balanced his role as Boris Johnson's No10 with being Foreign Secretary, a position he held until September 2021 when he became Justice Secretary.