Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
Blue Sky Offices Shoreham, 25 Cecil Pashley Way, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 5FF, UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0)1273 434 943
Email: [email protected]
The British Medical Association has described testimonies at the Covid inquiry from Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain – two of Boris Johnson’s key advisers at the height of the pandemic – as “disturbing.”
Professor Phil Banfield, chair of BMA council, said the testimonies revealed “dysfunction at the heart of government”, with ministers frequently dismissing expert advice.
Prof Banfield said the inquiry has also highlighted the government’s “failure to act quickly” and “a callous disregard for people’s lives.”
Johnson thought Covid was “nature’s way of dealing with old people,” according to chief scientific adviser
On Tuesday (24 October), the inquiry was shown notebook entries from 2020 by Sir Patrick Vallance, who was the chief scientific adviser at the time.
In these entries, Vallance said Boris Johnson was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life.”
Vallance also wrote in a separate entry that Mr Johnson thought “the whole thing [was] pathetic”, and Covid was just “nature’s way of dealing with old people.”
“I am not entirely sure I disagree with them,” Sir Patrick wrote.
When asked whether this thinking influenced the PM during this period, Mr Cain, Johsnon’s former communications chief, said “he was concerned about the society as a whole … but Johnson acted “too late” when implementing the later lockdowns.
“But, he did actually do what I believe to be the moral and responsible course of action, it was just later than it should have been,” he added.
A lack of diversity among key decision makers
On the same day of the inquiry, Dominic Cummings, the former chief adviser to Johnson, admitted there was “essentially no shielding plan at all” for at risk groups ahead of the first lockdown.
He accused the Cabinet Office of “trying to block” the creation of a shielding plan, and said plans to protect vulnerable groups were “almost entirely appallingly neglected by the entire planning system.”
In a message to Boris Johnson, Mr Cummings described the cabinet office as a “dumpster fire” that was “totally behind on pace.”
Mr Cain was showed this message and said the point was that “nobody quite knew” who the person was “driving this machine.”
Mr Cain said that Boris Johnson lacked the “skill set” to tackle the pandemic, and “indecision” was a common theme inside No 10.
He also admitted there was a “lack of diversity” among key decision makers.
“If you lack that diversity within a team, you create problems in decision-making and policy development and culture,” he added.
Accounts made during Covid inquiry “triggering” for doctors
Prof Banfield says hearing the accounts made in the inquiry will be “incredibly triggering for doctors and the public.”
“From very early on we could see what colleagues in other parts of the world were dealing with and all we could do was look on terrified and helpless, as the UK Government failed to take this seriously and ignore expert public health advice.
“Amid the political infighting and point scoring, we must not lose sight of the fact that Government decisions – or lack thereof – have had a lasting impact on the public and healthcare workers, many of whom continue to live with the trauma experienced during the pandemic,” he said.