Covid Inquiry RECAP: Michael Gove admitted 'we're f***ing up' in brutal pandemic WhatsApps

Health chief asked why she claimed UK was 'international exemplar'

Dame Jenny has defended claiming the UK was an "international exemplar" in preparing for a pandemic.

On April 19 she claimed the country "has been an international exemplar in preparedness" saying that having a pandemic influenza stockpile was a "very high quality mark".

She told the inquiry: "I recognise that in retrospect this feels wrong, but these weren't my assessments, theyh were objective external assessments. There are areas we need to look at globally."

Dame Jenny admitted that at the time she said the words the UK wasn't in an "exemplary" position.

Inquiry counsel Andrew O'Connor said: "The UK wasn't an international exemplar."

Prof Jenny Harries confronted with PPE claims that turned out to be wrong

Prof Dame Jenny Harries has been shown a statement she made on PPE claiming that issues had been resolved.

On March 20, 2020, she said that the UK had a "perfectly adequate" supply and said issues with deliveries had been "completely resolved".

Addressing the inquiry she said she had no responsibility for PPE, adding: "I had to rely on information that was provided to me.

"My understanding was we had a national supply." She went on: "That turned out not to be the case."

Dame Jenny pointed out that she apologised for the error at the next press conference she appeared at, around 10 days later.

Prof Jenny Harries warned about early lockdown, email shows

Now giving evidence is Dame Professor Jenny Harries, who was deputy chief medical officer as the crisis unfolded.

She was shown an email sent on March 10, 2020, in which she said: "I think we need to strongly challenge the idea that doing something sooner is better - it is genuinely potentially quite dangerous, which is why a responsible government taking decisions based on evidence would want to make sure the timing was as good as it possibly could be for maximum effect."

Boris Johnson treated Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 'like unruly adolescents' claim

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford complained that Boris Johnson treated devolved administrations "like a set of unruly, unreliable adolescents", the inquiry heard.

Mr Gove was shown a statement which said: "It appears to me tha his thinking, as the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was not that the UK Government needed to co-operate effectively with the devolved governments as equal partners who should be properly involved in decision-making, but that they were to be handled with care like a set of unruly, unreliable adolescents whose judgements were flawed."

He said a comment by Mr Johnson that it was "optically wrong" for the PM to be seen with First Ministers.

Mr Gove said there were concerns about information being leaked by devolved governments, but added: "In the greater scheme of things that wasn't a particular concern."

Desperate Gove emailed PM saying there was no choice but to bring in lockdown

Frantic Michael Gove emailed Boris Johnson in a desperate bid to speed up lockdown measures, the inquiry heard.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard the then minister for the Cabinet Office contacted Mr Johnson directly via his personal email in January 2021 to argue that there was "no alternative but to adopt a strategy of maximum suppression".

He defended the unusual approach. When asked why he had chosen not to go through established channels, Mr Gove said: "I wanted to make sure that it got to the prime minister direct and without any interference. I wanted to make sure that he saw my own unvarnished opinion, that it was laid out in black and white."

When pressed further on why he had chosen this approach, Mr Gove said: "You asked me to reflect earlier if I hadn't been vigorous enough in stating my view. At some point in the pandemic, I suspect I wasn't and on other occasions I felt it was necessary to adopt not just a belt and braces approach, but by an any means necessary approach in order to make clear what I felt."

Michael Gove says 'too often the government didn't go early, or hard enough'

The then-Cabinet Office minister says too often the Government did not go "early or hard enough" in imposing Covid restrictions.

He sent the PM a message in January 2021 to show his "unvarnished opinion laid out in black and white" over his private gmail account.

"I wanted to make sure he knew what I thought," he says.

The PM announced the third national lockdown on 4 January 2021.

Michael Gove admits to the Covid Inquiry the tiers system was 'inherently flawed'

Michael Gove admits to the Covid Inquiry the October 2020 tier restrictions were "inherently flawed".

"I was sceptical and grew more sceptical about its efficacy and believed and advocated for an approach that was more England-wide", he says.

Yesterday Greater Manchester Mayor said the city was treated "appallingly" in terms of the process by which the city was placed under restrictions too fast and at late notice.

Asked whether he accepted this, he replies: "I think it was broader than just Manchester in the way it was flawed... the tiering system overall was inherently flawed."

Gove says the SNP in Government would have had 'temptation' to 'exaggerate' mistakes

Michael Gove admits the move from "Stay at Home" to "Stay Alert" messaging in May 2020 was not discussed with the Scottish Government.

Asked why the important change in public messaging was not communicating, Mr Gove says: "We communicated a great deal - we didn't communicate everything to the Scottish Government."

While Mr Gove admits there would have been some failings in communications he says there would be a "temptation" for some in the Scottish Government - led by the SNP - to "exaggerate" a mistake or error to "feed a broader political message".

Michael Gove evidence session resumes

Mr Gove is shown WhatsApps regarding hunting and shooting being exempted from the 'rule of six' Covid rule.

The Cabinet Minister rejects he was attempting to "conceal" the exemption from the public and says "all sorts of activities" crossed his radar when drawing up regulations during the pandemic.

"The clear thing there was to make sure all sorts of outdoors [activities] were treated universal", he says.

In the messages a person in his department says: "I persume you a strongly in favour of exempting but in a way that it doesn't appear on the face of [regulations]".

Mr Gove replied in September 2020: "Yes".

Too much was asked of Matt Hancock's department, inquiry told

Mr Gove argued that "too much was asked" of Mr Hancock's Department of Health and Social Care at the start of the pandemic and that other parts of Government should have taken on more.

"I have a high opinion of Matt Hancock as a minister," Mr Gove said.

He said the Cabinet Office was "flawed" and not effective at dealing with crises, stating: "The Cabinet Office in and of itself, over many years, has operated in a way which is not as effective as it should be for the effective delivery of Government policy, both business as usual, and also in response to crises."

Boris Johnson prefered 'gladiatorial decision-making' says Gove

Mr Gove has defended Boris Johnson from claims that he had flip-flopped over lockdowns during the pandemic.

The Levelling Up Secretary told the inquiry: "He preferred gladiatorial decision-making rather than inquisitorial. He wanted to see the two cases or the three cases rehearsed in front of him, or even rehearsed in his own mind.

"Any prime minister is entitled to test propositions and to think 'is the restriction of liberty and the economic damage consequent upon lockdown worth inflicting on people in order to prevent the spread of this virus'?"

Mr Gove also said Mr Johnson's "principled attachment to maximising individual liberty" meant it was "difficult for him to contemplate something like this". The senior Tory said officials like himself who believed the Government should have acted earlier had a responsibility to point out to the then-prime minister the need for action.

"I don't think that one can single out the prime minister at the time for criticism. We all deserve our share retrospectively of criticism."

'I should have been more forthright', Gove admits

Mr Gove has admitted that he should have been more "forthright" in pushing for a lockdown.

The Tory cabinet member, who chaired COBRA meetings at the start of the crisis, said: "Generally people have been unhappy when I've been more forthright but on this occassion I should have been more forthright."

Reminded that it was a matter of life or death to bring in measures, Mr Gove said: "Absolutely, and that's why I should have been."

Gove admitted 'we're f***ing up' in WhatsApp message

Gove lists the biggest mistakes made by ministers during pandemic

Michael Gove has said that the Government's key failings included how it bought PPE and not thinking enough about the impact of school closures on children.

Asked to list the biggest mistakes made by ministers, the Cabinet minister said: "I believe that we were too slow to lock down initially in March. I believe that we should have taken stricter measures before we eventually decided to do so late in October.

"I believe that while it was admirable that we succeeded in building testing capacity so quickly, that our the strategic approach to who should be tested and why and what our tests were for who was not as rigorously thought through as it might have been. I am also concerned that we did not pay enough attention to the impact particularly on children and vulnerable children of some of the measures that we took.

"I also believe that the approach that we took towards PPE procurement deserves at the very least reflection."

Gove says that many believe Covid was a 'man made' virus

When asked about shortcomings in the Government's preparations for a new virus, Mr Gove said: "There is a significant body of judgment that believes that the virus itself was man-made and that presents challenges as well."

Hugo Keith KC, the Inquiry's Lead Counsel, said the "divisive" issue was not part of its terms of reference.

Mr Gove added: "I think it is important to recognise that the virus presented a series of new challenges that required both the science to adjust and science , by definition, adjusts on the basis of accumulating evidence - both about the operation of the virus and its effect on particular elements within the population."

Matt Hancock displayed 'foresight and wisdom', insists Gove

Michael Gove has also defended former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has been repeatedly criticised by other witnesses at the Covid Inquiry.

The Cabinet minister said: "I have a high opinion of Mr Hancock and believe that many of the decisions that he made were right and displayed foresight and wisdom."

Last week, Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance told the Inquiry that Mr Hancock had a "habit of saying things" that weren't true. Earlier this month, ex-Deputy Cabinet Secretary Helen MacNamara said he displayed "nuclear levels" of overconfidence.

Gove defends Dominic Cummings as he insists 'strong personalities' were needed in No10

Michael Gove has defended the culture in No10 under Dominic Cummings.

Mr Cummings worked as an adviser to Mr Gove during his time as Education Secretary, before later becoming a senior aide to Boris Johnson when he became PM.

The Tory minister was asked about WhatsApp messages written by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case in which he said working with Mr Johnson's team was like "taming wild animals".

Mr Gove said: “I think it is the case that almost every No10 operation has had by its nature strong personalities. Sometimes those personalities clash, sometimes under tension. Humans express themselves in ways which, with the benefit of hindsight, they regret. It is certainly the case that under Boris Johnson there were strong personalities in No10.

“But those strong personalities had been responsible for helping to secure not just an election victory, but an end to the logjam in parliament over Brexit. And many of those strong personalities needed to be assertive in order to deal with some of the other challenges that we faced.”

He added: "You're never going to get a perfect team of personalities, all of whom are beautifully aligned and amongst whom there is perfect harmony. You will always have - it's in the nature of politics - strong views, sometimes punchily expressed. The nature of decision-making in any organisation under pressure means that people do sometimes need to be a little bit direct."

Gove apologises to Covid families for pandemic mistakes

Michael Gove has apologised to families who lost loved ones during the pandemic for mistakes made by the Government.

He said: “I want to take this opportunity, if I may, to apologise to the victims who endured so much pain and the families who endured so much loss as a result of the mistakes that were made by the Government in response to the pandemic. As a minister responsible for the Cabinet Office, who was also close to many of the decisions that were made, I must take my share of responsibility for that.”

He added: "Politicians are human beings, we're fallible, we make mistakes and we make errors. And I'm sure that the Inquiry will have an opportunity to look in detail at many of the errors I and others made. But I also want to stress that I - and those with whom I worked - were also seeking at every point, in circumstances where every decision was difficult and every course was was bad, to make those decisions that we felt we could in order to try to deal with an unprecedented virus."

Cabinet Office was 'flawed' as it was like a 'Mary Poppins bag', admits Gove

Michael Gove, who was the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office, has said that it was "not effective as it should be" as dealing with crises.

The former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that its structure was "flawed" as it was stuffed with extra responsibilities like a "Mary Poppins bag" by successive prime ministers, and not effective at dealing with crises.

He said: "The inherent structure of the Cabinet Office was flawed. The Cabinet Office in and of itself, over many years, has operated in a way which is not as effective as it should be for the effective delivery of government policy, both business as usual, and also in response to crises.

"The Cabinet Office had an approach which I fear ceded too much responsibility to lead government departments and did not mean the assumption of sufficient responsibility at the centre."

Mr Gove also said successive prime ministers have added responsibilities to the Cabinet Office's plate that do not fit easily elsewhere. "So, it becomes a sort of Mary Poppins bag into which different prime ministers will shove things that they believe require to be dealt with by the Government's nanny, as it were."

Michael Gove begins giving evidence

Hugo Keith KC, who is Lead Counsel for the Inquiry, has begun questioning Michael Gove. He was a key figure in the pandemic and chaired 145 meetings of the Covid O (Covid Operations) committee.

Michael Gove has arrived at the Covid Inquiry

Tory Cabinet minister Michael Gove has arrived at the Covid Inquiry in West London. He is due to begin giving evidence shortly after 10am.

Boris Johnson to give evidence next week

Boris Johnson will be questioned under oath over his time in No10 as he’s hauled before the Covid Inquiry next week.

The former PM will give evidence across two days on Wednesday and Thursday, before Rishi Sunak appears the following week. Mr Johnson will face difficult questions, including over claims he said he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown.

He previously denied to Parliament that he had made the remark, but his former chief-of-staff Lord Lister told the Inquiry earlier this month that he heard Mr Johnson say it during a meeting in September 2020.

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Michael Gove said Government structures 'simply not adequate'

In a witness statement published earlier this year, Mr Gove admitted that more should have been done to plan for a pandemic.

He wrote: "In my opinion, one of the central lessons of the pandemic in terms of preparedness is that whole-system resilience issues should be planned for better. The initial structures were simply not adequate for a civil contingency of this scale and nature."

Mr Gove continued: "Of course, no Government could maintain a standing capacity ready to coordinate fully an emergency situation or a dedicated team of officials on hand to create the scale of intervention which lockdown ultimately required, but it is reasonable to expect the centre of Government to have tried and tested plans to be in place."

Referring to lack of PPE he wrote: "It became clear during the pandemic that the stockpiles of necessary medical equipment, notably - but not only - PPE, were inadequate. I am not well placed to say whether this was a failure in planning: clearly stockpiles cannot be created to cater for every eventuality, but it is not clear to me whether the PPE needs could and should have been anticipated and planned for by DHSC or another body."