Rishi Sunak Covid inquiry – live: PM reacts to Boris Johnson’s ‘pro-death squad’ description of Treasury

Rishi Sunak today told the Covid-19 Inquiry that launching the Eat Out to Help Out scheme was “the right thing to do”, adding it was designed to be safe within the lifting of lockdown measures.

The prime minister, who was chancellor at the time of the crisis, also defended the Treasury which was described as the “pro-death squad” by Boris Johnson because it wanted to ease lockdown restrictions quickly.

This afternoon, counsel Hugo Keith KC asked Mr Sunak why the Eat Out to Help Out scheme was rolled out without consultation with Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).

Mr Sunak said it was a “micro policy” designed “specifically in the context of the safe lifting of [COVID measures] that had already been signed off”.

Earlier in the day, Mr Sunak apologised to bereaved families for the government’s actions during the pandemic.

The PM is the latest member of the Covid-19 cabinet to face the inquiry. Last week, former prime minister Boris Johnson defended his actions and hit out at “dramatic” representations of the Partygate revelations.

Key Points

• Sunak’s defence of Eat Out to Help Out - analysis

• PM hits back at top scientists who did not raise concerns

• 'Eat Out to Help Out was designed to be safe’

• WhatsApp messages ‘did not come across'

‘I was not aware the Treasury was called pro-death squad’

Monday 11 December 2023 15:17 , Alex Ross

Rishi Sunak has said he was not aware the Treasury was called the “pro-death squad” when he was chancellor during the pandemic.

The prime minister said the term is “not a fair characterisation” of “the incredibly hardworking people” in the department.

Former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance revealed Boris Johnson joked about the Treasury being “the pro-death squad” during the pandemic because it wanted to ease lockdown restrictions quickly.

In an extract from his diary, shown to the Covid inquiry, Sir Patrick said Mr Johnson “ended up by saying the team must bring in the pro-death squad from HMT [Her Majesty’s Treasury]”.

Mr Sunak said: “The people who worked with the Treasury who worked extremely hard that entire period.”

‘Enormous anxiety inside the Treasury’

Monday 11 December 2023 12:31 , Alex Ross

Rishi Sunak says there were fears within the Trasury that the government would not be able to fund the pandemic response after a failed gilt auction a day before the first lockdown.

It meant the government was unable to borrow in the normal way, and it had to enter an overdraft faciltiy at the Bank of England.

He said: “It happened once before in the financial crisis and it unsurprisingly caused enormous anxiety inside the Treasury and with me, because it was a very worrying development.”

‘Economic scarring'

Monday 11 December 2023 12:33 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has accepted that taxes are “historically high” despite his recent national insurance cut.

Mr Sunak described the tax burden as “historically high” before quickly rowing back to claim they are “higher than I would like”.

The PM blamed “economic scarring” from the country’s borrowing during the pandemic.

Mr Sunak said: “The impact of having to pay it back only comes well after the fact when everyone can forget why it was necessary.

“And now everyone is grappling with the consequences, I am grappling with the consequences of that, as we have a historically high… tax burden that… is higher than I would like.

“That is a direct consequence of the support that was provided during the pandemic.”

PM told off for using inquiry to excuse record high tax burden

Monday 11 December 2023 12:35 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has been slapped down by the Covid inquiry’s lead counsel for using his evidence session to excuse the record high tax burden.

The prime minister accepted that taxes have hit a “historic high”, despite his recent national insurance cut.

And he tried to blame “economic scarring” from the pandemic, insisting we are still grappling with the impacts of lockdown.

But inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC said: “Please do not go on to the issue of tax burdens.”

A message Sunak keeps getting across

Monday 11 December 2023 12:39 , Alex Ross

Throughout this session, the PM has been keen to say the government had been following the advice of scientists, and quickly, during the Covid crisis.

It’ll be interesting if that changes later when we come to the subject of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s former chief scientific adviser, were never told about the plan, according to Mr Whitty, who spoke at the inquiry last week.

England’s former deputy chief medical officer, Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, also told the inquiry that he first heard about Eat Out to Help Out on television and said the scheme “didn’t feel sensible to me”.

Boris Johnson said the sooner lockdown was over the better

Monday 11 December 2023 13:02 , Alex Ross

Boris Johnson became agitated about lockdown in April and said “the sooner we get this open the better”, the Covid inquiry has heard.

An email shown by counsel Hugo Keith KC reveals the former PM thought Britain had “overdone” lockdown, highlighting that other countries did not close construction.

And the email, from then chancellor Rishi Sunak’s principal private secretary Elizabeth Perelman summing up a meeting between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson, revealed that Mr Johnson was “agitated that he did not have a plan”.

It said: “His [Mr Jonhson’s] instinct is that we might have overdone lockdown.

“PM did agree that ‘sooner get this open the better’ (but caveated and said multiple times throughout the meeting) that can’t have another exponential increase.

“Overall the prime minister seemed agitated that he did not have a plan.”

Treasury was worried its advice to PM was being ‘watered down’

Monday 11 December 2023 13:11 , Alex Ross

Rishi Sunak was asked about an April 2020 email from a Treasury official which made a remark about he wanted to “set out his views and the economic analysis to the PM (prime minister), without it being watered down by CO (Cabinet Office) process”.

Mr Sunak said he did not write the email and added: “I never felt that I didn’t have an opportunity to feed in what I wanted to the Prime Minister.

“I’m not sure how officials may have felt in their conversations with other departments or the Cabinet Office.

“I generally thought we had good constructive relations.

“For my part, I felt I always had the opportunity to feed into the Prime Minister’s thinking.”

‘It was a tricky meeting'

Monday 11 December 2023 13:25 , Alex Ross

Now on to another email from Rishi Sunak’s principal private secretary Elizabeth Perelma, this time on May 21 2020 on a meeting between Mr Sunak and Boris Johnson regarding the plan for lifting restrictions.

It said nobody could say the “chancellor has not eloquently and authentically put these points across … but once again, he was a lone voice and it was a tricky meeting where sense was they were trying to appease him”.

Mr Sunak told the inquiry he could not recall what that referred to but generally at this time he was “making the points about the economic impact, what was happening internationally, the fact that we were investing in test and trace”, and ways of managing an exit from lockdown.

He said “It was exactly around the time that it was clear that we had probably been overestimating R” and about “nosocomial transmission, where a large amount of the transmission that was happening was happening not in sectors of the economy that were open or closed, but in hospitals or care homes, which requires a slightly obviously different response”.

Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Monday 11 December 2023 13:27 , Alex Ross

First link to the controversial scheme, as Hugo Keith KC shows an email from his principal private secretary in late June, 2020, saying scientific advisers were warning the opening-up measures planned by the government in the summer were “at the riskier end of the spectrum” with the potential to increase the infection rate.

The Eat out to Help Out scheme ran through August that year.

The Prime Minister said: “I don’t recall seeing that email.”

He conceded that scientists “from the beginning they thought it was at that end of the spectrum”, but insisted they were on board with the opening plan.

Mr Sunak added: “My recollection was that we went over a set of things that could be done. It was conditional. It was delayed at one stage on the advice from the scientists. So, I think that shows that the process was working.”

Protesters outside

Monday 11 December 2023 13:55 , Alex Ross

While we are on a lunch break, just a reminder of those protesters outside Dorland House where Rishi Sunak has been giving evidence to the Covid-19 Inquiry.

Here, Aamer Anwar, lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved group, speaks to the media ahead of further questioning of Mr Sunak this afternoon.

One subject of interest to those protesting outside will be the running of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which some have contributed to a rise in Covid deaths across the country.

We expect this to come up after lunch.

Eat Out to Help Out - Sunak asked why he didn’t consult with health experts?

Monday 11 December 2023 14:15 , Alex Ross

Counsel Hugo Keith KC asks why, “in light of the obvious issue of transmission”, did Mr Sunak not consult with Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) or the Secretary of State for Health on rolling out Eat Out to Help Out, which encouraged people to eat out.

Mr Sunak replied by pointing out that indoor hospitality had already opened in consultation with health experts, and the scheme was a “policy sat within and beneath that”.

He added: “It was a micro policy within a package.”

'Eat Out to Help Out was designed to be safe’

Monday 11 December 2023 14:16 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has defended his controversial Eat Out to Help Out scheme, saying it was designed to operate “within the safe lifting” of lockdown measures.

“We had already made the collective decision to reopen indoor hospitality and this was a policy that sat within and beneath that,” Mr Sunak said.

The then chancellor has been blamed for pushing up cases of the virus by encouraging people to visit restaurants in summer 2020.

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty has described the plan as “Eat Out to Help Out… the virus”.

Mr Sunak said the scheme “did not do anything further” than the lifting of lockdown that was already planned.

And he said there was no need to consult scientists specifically on the scheme, as they had already fed into the overall plan.

Mr Sunak said without supporting the hospitality sector many jobs would have been put at risk “with devastating consequences for those people and their families”.

'People did not raise objections to Eat Out to Help Out’

Monday 11 December 2023 14:23 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has said there was a month between the announcement of Eat Out to Help Out and its implementation, where nobody raised concerns about the scheme.

The prime minister is launching a robust defence of the controversial policy he introduced as chancellor.

He said: “I know there has been a lot of commentary on this point, but there was almost a month between announcement and commencement… but at none of those moments in those meetings, there was plenty of opportunity for people to have raised it either with me or with the prime minister.”

Mr Sunak added: “I’ve outlined my reasons for why we implemented the policy and why we thought it was the right thing to do. I believe it was the right thing to do to safeguard those jobs.”

Rishi Sunak told off by Hugo Keith KC

Monday 11 December 2023 14:34 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has been told off by Hugo Keith KC for suggesting that the Covid inquiry has focused too much on Eat Out to Help Out.

The prime minister pointed to comments by Matt Hancock when he was giving evidence that there has been “undue focus on this one item”.

Inquiry lead counsel Mr Keith interrupted the prime minister, saying: “Excuse me?”

“It’s a matter for m’lady [inquiry chairman baroness Heather Hallett] with matters as to whether or not they are of importance to this inquiry.”

Rishi Sunak’s defence of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Monday 11 December 2023 14:36 , Alex Ross

Here’s what Mr Sunak said about the controversial scheme, which Sir Patrick Vallance, who was chief scientific adviser at the time, told the inquiry last month was “highly likely” to have increased Covid deaths in the UK.

It prompted another adviser to call Mr Sunak “Dr Death the chancellor”.

Mr Sunak told today’s hearing: “Because Eat Out To Help Out had been designed specifically in the context of the safe lifting of NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) that had already been signed off, as we talked about before, as part of the May plan, which had reopened hospitality – indoor hospitality. That had already been part of the approved May plan.

“Eat Out To Help Out only operated within that context. And indeed there were a significant range of other NPIs that were in place, including social distancing, Covid secure guidance, table service, contactless ordering, one-way systems, all of which had been put in place.”

He added: “This was a micro policy to make sure that that capacity which the scientists had already said was part of an overall package which could be safely delivered, was actually used. And it was done very much in that context.”

Unions not impressed by Rishi Sunak's memory

Monday 11 December 2023 14:38 , Archie Mitchell

The head of the Trades Union Congress’s Covid inquiry work has been unimpressed by Rishi Sunak’s evidence so far.

Nathan Oswin has taken to X, formerly Twitter, to compile a running thread of all the things the current Prime Minister cannot recall whilst under oath at the Covid Inquiry.

Primary concern to protect millions of jobs

Monday 11 December 2023 14:44 , Alex Ross

Asked about his decision to roll out Eat Out to Help Out, Mr Sunak says his primary concern was to protect millions of jobs of particularly vulnerable people who worked in the hospitality sector.

He said: “All the data, all the evidence, all the polling, all the input from those companies suggested that unless we did something many of those jobs would have been a risk with devastating consequences for those people and their families, and that’s why independent think tanks had recommended something like that.”

Sunak clashes with Hugo Keith

Monday 11 December 2023 14:48 , Alex Ross

Rishi Sunak has clashed with counsel Hugo Keith KC a few times during this session now. Mr Keith has been unhappy on how the prime minister has appeared to take control of the questioning.

Here’s one clip where Mr Sunak fails to initially answer Mr Keith’s direct question.

Watch: Rishi Sunak clashes with Hugo Keith during Covid inquiry grilling

'There is no need for an economic Sage’

Monday 11 December 2023 14:49 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has said there is no need to form an economic alternative to the emergency science group Sage.

“I’m not particularly persuaded that it’s necessary because unlike Sage, that expertise exists within government departments.

“The Treasury has the ability to do the modelling and the analysis that’s necessary on the economy and it works with external bodies,” the prime minister told the Covid inquiry.

‘I have no recollection'

Monday 11 December 2023 14:52 , Alex Ross

Rishi Sunak has contradicted Matt Hancock’s claim that he warned the Treasury that Eat Out To Help Out was causing problems.

Lead counsel Hugo Keith asked the former chancellor whether he was aware the then-health secretary had raised concerns about the scheme to the Treasury, as he claimed he had in an August 2020 message as he was arguing against the extension.

“I have no recollection of him raising that nor do I have any record of him doing so with me at the time,” Mr Sunak said.

“But I do know he has said that there has been undue focus on this one item in his evidence to the inquiry.”

'I was never persuaded by the circuit-breaker’

Monday 11 December 2023 14:58 , Alex Ross

Rishi Sunak has said he was “never persuaded” by a potential circuit-breaker lockdown in autumn 2020.

The prime minister confirmed he argued against the idea, which chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty has said could have avoided or shortened the eventual second lockdown.

“I was never particularly persuaded by the circuit breaker as indeed others weren’t either,” Mr Sunak said.

Sunak’s red bracelet

Monday 11 December 2023 15:01 , Alex Ross

Many eagle-eyed viewers of today’s Covid-19 Inquiry will spot the red bracelet worn by Rishi Sunak.

The prime minister wears it every day as a mark of his Hindu faith.

The bracelet, known as a kautuka, is regarded as a symbol of good luck and protection.

What is the significance of Rishi Sunak’s red bracelet?

'Concerns should have raised at the time’

Monday 11 December 2023 15:05 , Alex Ross

The prime minsiter says he does not believe the Eat Out To Help Out scheme was a risk and that the “onus” should have been on those who felt strongly about the policy to raise concerns “when something could have been done about it”.

Defending the scheme, he says: “Why would I raise it as a risk when I didn’t believe that it was? Because it was designed in the context of a safe reopening.

“The onus is surely on the people who now believe that it was a risk to have raised it at the time, when something could have been done about it, if they felt strongly.

“I’m very clear that I don’t believe that it was, because hospitality had been deemed to be safe to reopen with a considerable – as I said – hundreds of pages of guidance, changes in practice, and had been recommended by think tanks, and had been done by countries elsewhere.

“This was a very reasonable, sensible policy intervention to help safeguard those jobs in that safe reopening. That was my view. I didn’t believe that it was a risk. I believe it was the right thing to do.

“But if others are suggesting that they didn’t, they had ample opportunity to raise those concerns in forums where I was there, or where the Prime Minister or others were, and they didn’t.”

PM hits back at top scientists over launch of Eat Out to Help Out

Monday 11 December 2023 15:14 , Alex Ross

Interesting response from Mr Sunak after former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty said there were unaware of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme until it was announced.

Sir Patrick went on to tell the inquiry last month that Eat Out to Help Out was “highly likely” to have increased Covid deaths in the UK.

Speaking to the inquiry this afternoon, Mr Sunak said the top scientists did not raise concerns about Eat Out To Help Out in meetings following the initiative’s announcement and prior to its commencement.

When asked by inquiry counsel Hugo Keith why the Treasury did not “raise expressly” the matter of Eat Out To Help out in Covid-S meetings on July 16, July 22 and August 6 2020, Mr Sunak said there was “a month for people to raise concerns that they may have had”.

He added: “And actually it’s precisely in those three meetings that you mentioned; Covid-S on 16th July, the chief medical officer, in the minutes, talked about two significant risk moments: schools and winter. He did not mention Eat Out To Help Out.

“On the 22nd of July, the agenda item is August planning. And again, it was not raised by the chief scientific adviser or chief medical officer.

“On 6th August, the Covid-S meeting that you acknowledged, again, the minutes show that returning to schools was the single riskiest element of the Government’s plan. Those three meetings all happened after the announcement of Eat Out To Help Out, all of them involve the chief scientific adviser and the chief medical officer.”

‘I did not call poor parents freeloaders'

Monday 11 December 2023 15:23 , Archie Mitchell

Rishi Sunak has denied calling parents who cannot afford to buy food for their children “freeloaders”.

The prime minister, who was chancellor during the pandemic, was quizzed by Covid inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC about whether he used the term amid a row with Marcus Rashford over free school meals.

The Manchester United star had campaigned in 2021 for food vouchers over the summer for children eligible for free school meals.

Sir Patrick Vallance’s diaries recalled a meeting in which someone said: “Good working people pay for their children to eat and we don’t want freeloaders.”

Sir Patrick said the comment was made by either Mr Sunak or the Conservative chief whip.

Asked by Mr Keith whether he was responsible, Mr Sunak said: “I did not say those words. I don’t recollect anyone saying those words.”

Watch: No one objected to Eat Out To Help Out, Sunak reveals

Monday 11 December 2023 15:35 , Alex Ross

Sunak’s defence of Eat Out to Help Out - analysis

Monday 11 December 2023 15:44 , Alex Ross

The prime minister put up a strong defence for the Eat Out to Help Out scheme this afternoon.

The initiative was rolled out in August 2020, and came after indoor hospitality had reopened.

A total of £849 million claimed from more than 160 million meals across the country with people able to get a 50 per cent discount on their meals.

However, some have accused the government of pushing through the scheme in the interest of the economy with limited thought for the consequence on public health.

Mr Sunak today was quick to point out that the “micro policy” came after indoor hospitality had been opened.

He then went on to say the government’s scientific advisers had the opportunity to raise concerns between the announcement of the scheme and it being rolled out - but did not.

He later said the scheme was the “right thing to do”, pointing out the number of jobs saved as a result.

Clearly, Mr Sunak stands by the controversial scheme.

Questions put to Sunak from bereavement groups

Monday 11 December 2023 16:13 , Alex Ross

Covid inquiry counsel Hugo Keith KC has finished his questioning of the prime minister. Now is the turn of the bereavement groups with Anna Morris KC, from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, the first up.

She asks about funding and support for care workers during the pandemic.

Following her, Nia Gowman, from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, who asks if the Welsh government had the option to opt out of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Mr Sunak says there was no reason to consult the Welsh government, which did not object.

She then shows an extract from a witness statement from Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford in which he claims that the Treasury was acting on behalf of England, not the whole of the UK.

Mr Sunak rejects the suggestion.

PM rejects suggestion of inequality

Monday 11 December 2023 16:27 , Alex Ross

The PM is now questioned by Leslie Thomas KC, counsel for the Federation of Ethnic Minority Healthcare Organisations. He asks if the PM would agree with him that he put ethnic minority workers at further risk of infection through schemes such as Eat Out to Help Out.

Mr Sunak says that’s not the case, and Eat Out to Help Out was set up to protect jobs.

Mr Thomas is also told off by Baroness Hallett for accusing Mr Sunak of running down the clock through his answering of questions.

Sunak’s appearance at Covid inquiry draws to close

Monday 11 December 2023 16:53 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Chairwoman Baroness Hallett thanked Rishi Sunak for giving evidence to her inquiry as his appearance drew to a close on Monday afternoon.

She told him: “Thank you very much, Prime Minister. I appreciate that - I doubt there’s ever an easy time for you to come along here to give evidence.

“Appreciate it’s difficult this particular week and thank you for your help.”

With that, the oral evidence for the probe’s second module is completed.

PM reveals thoughts on free school meals during pandemic

Monday 11 December 2023 17:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak has denied that anyone in Government expressed the sentiment that people requiring free school meals for their children during the pandemic were “freeloaders”.

He was also asked if he personally opposed giving free schools meals to deprived children during the summer holidays in June 2021.

Mr Sunak replied that the provision of meals is now “greater and more generously funded” than pre-pandemic due to the measures put in place during the crisis.

He added that the holiday activity and food programme at the time was “one of the most generous and comprehensive support packages put in place anywhere in the world, that disproportionately did benefit the most vulnerable”.

He told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry: “And actually, poverty actually fell during this period as a result. But it’s clear that that’s not sustainable forever.

“As the pandemic ended, and we returned to more normal life, it’s reasonable that we returned to a more normal state.

“But actually, when it came to the situation of free school meals, even though the pandemic support ended, more permanent, extra support was put in place to the provision of meals.

“And indeed activities today is greater and more generously funded than it was before the pandemic as a result of changes that were made through the holiday activity and food programme.”

Rishi Sunak defends Eat Out to Help Out scheme under intense pressure at Covid inquiry

Monday 11 December 2023 18:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak mounted a fierce defence of his controversial Eat Out to Help Out scheme and said it was unfair to call the Treasury a “pro-death squad“ during the pandemic.

The prime minister used an eight-hour evidence session to brush off accusations that he launched the controversial hospitality-boosting scheme without proper scientific advice. He praised the “incredibly hardworking people“ working in the Treasury while he was chancellor, hitting back at Boris Johnson’s suggestion they were happy to oversee an increase in deaths in order to lift lockdown restrictions.

The now-PM also said he “consistently” warned his predecessor Mr Johnson about the wider impacts of lockdown, blaming the “economic scarring” it left for the nation’s parlous finances today.

Rishi Sunak defends Eat Out to Help Out scheme under pressure at Covid inquiry

Key points from Rishi Sunak’s evidence today- part one:

Monday 11 December 2023 18:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak, who served as chancellor during the coronavirus pandemic and was responsible for implementing the furlough and Eat Out To Help Out schemes, appeared before the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Monday.

Here are the key points from his evidence:

- Defending Eat Out To Help Out

Mr Sunak offered an animated defence of his controversial initiative, saying it was the “right thing to do to protect” workers from the “devastating consequences” of job losses.

Grilled about why the Government’s scientific advisers and health secretary were not consulted, he argued it was a “micro policy” within the overall reopening plan they had already approved.

He added that they had “ample opportunity” to raise concerns and did not.

- Missing WhatsApps

Mr Sunak confirmed that his pandemic-era messages were not available to Baroness Hallett’s probe because he had changed his phone “multiple times over the last few years” and the messages from the old ones had “not come across”.

No one advised him to try to save messages for the inquiry, even when Boris Johnson announced its establishment in May 2021, he said. But, he noted, he was not a “prolific” WhatsApp user anyway and anything of significance was recorded officially.

Key points from Rishi Sunak’s evidence today- part two:

Monday 11 December 2023 18:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

- Not recalling things

Mr Sunak was challenged over his hazy memory of a March 23 2020 meeting where the decision was taken to impose the first lockdown. “I can’t precisely recall that particular meeting,” he said, prompting lead counsel Hugo Keith KC to say: “This was, of course, one of the most momentous decisions in the history of this nation.”

Other elements he could apparently not remember included warnings over how risky the wider opening-up measures were ahead of Eat Out To Help Out’s August 2020 launch, concerns then-health secretary Matt Hancock said he raised about the scheme, and details of the free school meals policy.

- Defending his former boss

Mr Sunak played down suggestions by previous witnesses that Mr Johnson’s No 10 was dysfunctional and that he dithered over Covid restrictions. He said comments about the administration being “criminally incompetent” and “chaotic” were not shared with him at the time. It would be “worse” if there had not been “vigorous debate” over such consequential decisions, Mr Sunak argued.

Key points from Rishi Sunak’s evidence today- part three:

Monday 11 December 2023 19:22 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

- A sombre apology to the bereaved

As Mr Johnson did last week, Mr Sunak used his opening remarks to the inquiry to issue an apology. The Prime Minister said he was “deeply sorry” to those who lost loved ones and who suffered during the pandemic “as a result of the actions that were taken”. He added that “it’s important that we learn the lessons so that we can be better prepared in the future”.

- What was happening outside the inquiry

Mr Sunak would have been painfully aware that, as he gave evidence, restive Tory MPs were poring over his Rwanda legislation ahead of a crunch vote. In a blow to the Prime Minister during the inquiry’s lunch break, a panel of lawyers convened by rebel MPs rejected the Bill, saying it did not go far enough.

Bereaved families say PM’s evidence is ‘pathetic'

Monday 11 December 2023 20:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Bereaved families have called the Prime Minister’s evidence to the Covid inquiry “pathetic” and criticised his inability to recall emails sent during the pandemic.

Some people hung images of their dead relatives around their necks and when Rishi Sunak left the inquiry room many stood and held up photographs of loved ones who died from the virus.

There were collective sighs when, repeatedly, Mr Sunak said he did not recall pieces of evidence during his time as chancellor, including an email from his private secretary that cited fears the government’s measures to open up the UK after lockdown were “at the riskier end of the spectrum”.

‘Sunak’s testinomy the weakest I’ve seen at Covid enquiry'

Monday 11 December 2023 20:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Speaking after the hearing, Jean Adamson, who lost her father Aldrich Adamson to Covid-19, said Sunak’s testimony was the weakest she had seen during the entire inquiry and criticised his refusal to provide his WhatsApp messages sent during the pandemic period.

Ms Adamson, who is a member of Covid Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “The fact that he’s refused to hand over his WhatsApp messages shows that he’s not interested to learn lessons and save lives, and that he takes us for idiots.

“This morning his testimony has been so far the most pathetic performance that I’ve seen from the very start of this inquiry.

“He ‘doesn’t recall’, he seems to have memory problems - ‘oh, I haven’t seen that email’.”

“He takes us for fools and continues to treat us with utter contempt. If another pandemic struck tomorrow the country would be left in the disastrous position of having a prime minister who the public doesn’t trust to respond well.”

PM ‘offered sorrow but no apology to families'

Monday 11 December 2023 21:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved, Aamer Anwar, said families who lost loved ones during the pandemic were “disappointed” by the Prime Minister’s evidence.

He said: “Rishi Sunak has finished giving his evidence today, and many of the Covid bereaved are left disappointed, he offered words of sorrow but offered no apology to the families.

“Rishi Sunak in his role as chancellor was Boris Johnson’s right-hand man, but his primary loyalty was clear - it was to the markets.

“Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson did not require the benefit of hindsight, the whole of Europe was watching in real time, a tsunami of the pandemic sweeping through Italy and the rest of Europe before hitting our shores.

“On the question of WhatsApps, the bereaved do not accept his explanation - the Covid bereaved find it inconceivable that any political leader anywhere in the United Kingdom cannot produce their WhatsApps for the key periods of the pandemic.

“The bereaved do not accept today’s excuses offered by the Prime Minister, that his WhatsApps are entirely unavailable.

“Rishi Sunak’s one-man mission to torpedo lockdown to gain a competitive advantage resulted in the false economy of sacrificing tens of thousands of lives to save the economy. Today the Covid bereaved do not accept his empty words of sorrow.”

Sunak says he has no Covid-era WhatsApps because he changed phone ‘multiple times'

Monday 11 December 2023 21:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak confirmed that his pandemic-era WhatsApps were not available to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, saying he had changed his phone “multiple times” in recent years and not backed up his messages.

The Prime Minister, who served as chancellor during the coronavirus crisis, said he was never advised to save the exchanges, despite key conversations about the Government’s response taking place via the messaging app.

He argued he was not a “prolific user” of WhatsApp anyway, and that anything of significance would have been recorded officially.

It came after his Downing Street predecessor Boris Johnson also failed to provide the official probe with any communications from February to June 2020, a critical period in the early handling of the outbreak.

During his appearance on Monday, Mr Sunak was grilled on whether he had access to any of the WhatsApps he sent during the crisis.

He replied: “No, I don’t, I’ve changed my phone multiple times over the past few years and, as that has happened, the messages have not come across.

“As you said, I’m not a prolific user of WhatsApp in the first instance - primarily communication with my private office and obviously anything that was of significance through those conversations or exchanges would have been recorded officially by my civil servants as one would expect.”

‘Eat Out to Help Out’ was a good idea – and the Covid inquiry’s rewriting of history is dangerous

Monday 11 December 2023 22:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it:

The then chancellor had to protect public health and the economy, writes John Rentoul. Which is why I raise a glass to his efforts to save the hospitality industry (as I did in my Covid gastropub)

‘Eat Out to Help Out’ was a good idea | John Rentoul