Covid inquiry live: MacNamara says Johnson failed to stop Cummings’ ‘misogynistic’ behavior

Former top civil servant Helen MacNamara condemned a “toxic” and “macho” culture at the highest levels of Boris Johnson’s government during the Covid pandemic.

Giving evidence to the official inquiry on Wednesday, Ms MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary and ethics chief, said the “female perspective” was missed during the pandemic because of a “macho” culture and sexism in Downing Street.

She said women were “ignored and excluded” and some who had worked with the Cabinet Office for years felt they had “become invisible overnight”.

Ms MacNamara also said she was “disappointed” that Mr Johnson had not called out an expletive-laden message written about her by Dominic Cummings.

On Tuesday, Mr Cummings apologised for the language used in a series of foul-mouthed messages criticising members of the government – including the one referred to by Ms MacNamara – but denied misogyny, saying he had been “much ruder” about the men.

Key Points

• MacNamara: There was a toxic macho culture at top of government

• Officials were ‘laughing at the Italians’ at start of pandemic

• Top female civil servant responds to Cummings’ foul-mouthed WhatsApps

• Cummings calls MacNamara a ‘c***’ in series of disparaging messages

• Government’s Covid plan was ‘pretty much a joke’, Cummings says

DHSC knew UK would face pandemic if virus left China, says Sir Christopher Wormald

14:09 , Archie Mitchell

The Department of Health knew that, if Covid escaped China, then there would be a pandemic which would hit the UK, Sir Christopher Wormald has confirmed.

The minutes of a Cobra meeting in January 2020 showed government scientists were operating on two “reasonable worst case scenarios”.

One was that the spread of Covid was confined to China, the other was that it was not, in which the chief medical officer said it would impact the UK.

Inquiry lead counsel Hugo Keith KC asked if Sir Christopher was “surprised” that there was no follow up debate about which measures should be considered.

But Sir Christopher, who was permanent secretary at the health department at the time, said the government had a plan to deal with a flu pandemic.

Pandemic had real lasting impact on brain health in over-50s, research says

13:50 , Andy Gregory

Lockdown and other restrictions during the pandemic have had a “real lasting impact” on the brain health of people over the age of 50, regardless of whether or not they caught Covid, a study has found.

Researchers found cognitive function and working memory in older people, both in those who had caught Covid and those who had not, declined more rapidly during the pandemic.

My colleague Jabed Ahmed has more in this report:

Pandemic had real lasting impact on brain health in over-50s, research says

Excl: Sunak warned government’s ageing IT systems are ‘accident waiting to happen’

13:33 , Andy Gregory

Away from the Covid inquiry for a moment, Rishi Sunak has been warned the government’s ageing computer systems are an “accident waiting to happen” – as ministers admitted they do not know the cost of patching up old IT.

Labour has urged the Tory government to “come clean” on work going on to fix up systems from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s – warning they could be increasingly vulnerable to cyber-attack.

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has more in this exclusive report:

Sunak warned government’s ageing IT systems are ‘accident waiting to happen’

Top health civil servant hits out at ‘blame game’ in government

13:14 , Andy Gregory

The top civil servant in the Department of Health said that energy focused on the “blame game” in government would have been “better spent solving the problems the pandemic was bringing”.

Sir Christopher Wormald told inquiry lead counsel Hugo Keith KC that Matt Hancock believed it was important to be “optimistic and aspirational”, adding he was not aware himself of the extent of views about the then-health secretary’s truth-telling.

“There were a lot of people who said that the secretary of state was over-optimistic about what would happen and over-promised on what could be delivered,” Sir Christopher said. “That was said really quite a lot. I think it was a very small number of people who said that he was actually telling untruths.”

“He was always clear that he was doing it for a positive reason. So setting a very aspirational target, not necessarily expecting to hit it, but to galvanise the system to do more. Whether that’s a good thing to do or not, that is a matter of perception.”

Sir Christopher acknowledged that mistrust between Number 10, the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health would have been damaging.

“The amount of time and energy that seemed to be taken up very early in the pandemic on the blame game – that energy would clearly have been better spent solving the problems the pandemic was bringing.”

Watch: PPE stockpile was not sufficient, says ex-NHS boss

12:55 , Andy Gregory

Cummings accuses ‘lying c***’ Hancock of ‘killing people’

12:50 , Andy Gregory

Dominic Cummings has launched another blistering attack on former health secretary Matt Hancock, after the former No 10 official faced a grilling over his expletive-laden WhatsApp messages during the pandemic.

Following his testimony earlier this week, Mr Cummings asked on Twitter whether the true problem was either him “calling Hancock ‘a lying c*** killing people’” or “Hancock actually being a lying c*** killing people”.

Watch: Boris Johnson wrong to blame lockdown on ‘bed-blockers’, says Simon Stevens

12:46 , Andy Gregory

Matt Hancock’s permanent secretary told him he was considered a liar

12:46 , Archie Mitchell

Matt Hancock’s permanent secretary Sir Christopher Wormald said he had “one conversation” with the then health secretary about colleagues believing he regularly said things that were untrue.

But Sir Christopher said the conversation was “mainly about the views of Dominic Cummings”.

“What I was seeing at the time was a very small number of people who were not Mr Hancock’s friends, saying this,” Sir Christopher added.

Matt Hancock was overpromising, not lying, former permanent secretary

12:36 , Archie Mitchell

The former permanent secretary in the Department of Health has said Matt Hancock often said things that could be considered “overpromising as opposed to untruths”.

Sir Christopher Wormald is being grilled by the Covid inquiry’s lead counsel Hugo Keith KC about why so many people have told the inquiry Mr Hancock was untrustworthy,

“I don’t think there was any doubt that some people thought that about him,” Sir Christopher said.

“I suspect he will be surprised by how widespread it was,” he added, citing evidence given by former top civil servant Helen MacNamara.

But Sir Christopher stuck to the line that he never witnessed Mr Hancock saying things which proved to be untrue.

‘I did not witness Matt Hancock saying something untrue,’ former permanent secretary

12:34 , Andy Gregory

The former permanent secretary in the Department of Health said there were “a very small” number of instances in which officials complained about Matt Hancock not telling the truth, reports our political correspondent Archie Mitchell.

But Sir Christopher Wormald said he “did not witness or come across” Mr Hancock having said anything “actually untrue”.

“There were a lot of people who said the secretary of state was over-optimistic,” however, he admitted.

It comes after days of allegations about Mr Hancock being a liar during the Covid inquiry.

Top health department official takes the stage

12:16 , Archie Mitchell

That's all for Lord Simon Stevens ... up now is Sir Christopher Wormald, the Department of Health’s former permanent secretary.

Watch: Matt Hancock believed he should decide ‘who should live and die’

12:14 , Andy Gregory

Racial disparities in Covid death rate spotted in spring 2020, NHS boss says

12:13 , Andy Gregory

The former boss of the NHS said in “early spring” 2020, the NHS became aware of the higher death rate among Black, Asian and minority ethnic Covid patients.

Then, at the beginning of April, the health service’s medical director Prof Stephen Powis raised the issue with Public Health England and chief medical officer Chris Whitty, Lord Simon Stevens told the Covid inquiry.

Warning people about long-Covid could have restricted spread of Covid overall

12:12 , Andy Gregory

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

The former boss of the NHS said warning people about the existence of long-Covid could have reduced the spread of the disease altogether.

Simon Stevens was asked whether a public information campaign about long Covid, which leaves patients with symptoms that can last weeks, months, or even years after infection, would assisted the NHS.

“Possibly, yes,” he said.

Inquiry will have to ‘very carefully’ look at hospital discharges into care homes

12:02 , Archie Mitchell

Lord Simon Stevens has told the Covid inquiry it will have to look “very carefully” at the issue of asymptomatic Covid patients being discharged from hospitals into care homes.

The former NHS boss said the risk was “in some senses” taken into account, but whether it was “appropriately” taken into account, “the inquiry will have to look very carefully”.

PPE stockpile was not sufficient, says ex-NHS boss

11:48 , Archie Mitchell

The former chief executive of the NHS has said the stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) was “not sufficient” before the pandemic struck.

Simon Stevens told the Covid inquiry that this resulted in Britain trying to recover too late, resulting in Britain engaging in a “worldwide scramble for PPE”.

Watch: Hancock and Cummings tried to get rid of NHS boss, WhatsApp messages show

11:40 , Andy Gregory

Boris Johnson wrong to blame lockdown on ‘bed-blockers’, Simon Stevens

11:25 , Archie Mitchell

Simon Stevens has said Boris Johnson’s belief that so-called bed-blockers were to blame for the government being forced to implement lockdowns is wrong.

The former NHS chief executive was shown testimony from Mr Johnson which said it was “frustrating” to have been forced into “extreme measures” to protect the NHS.

The then PM blamed the decision on the NHS’s “failure to grip the decades old problem of delayed discharge, commonly known as bed blocking”.

Bed blocking refers to patients who no longer need to be in hospital but cannot be discharged, often because they do not have a social care setting to be discharged to.

Lord Stevens told the Covid inquiry: “I don't think that is a fair argument in describing the decision calculus.”

Hancock ‘wanted to decide who should live and die’ if hospitals overwhelmed

11:17 , Andy Gregory

Matt Hancock wanted to decide “who should live and who should die” if hospitals became overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the former NHS chief executive said.

Lord Simon Stevens’s witness statement said: “The secretary of state for health and social care took the position that in this situation he – rather than, say, the medical profession or the public – should ultimately decide who should live and who should die.

“Fortunately this horrible dilemma never crystallised.”

Giving oral evidence to the inquiry, Lord Stevens added: “I certainly wanted to discourage the idea that an individual secretary of state, other than in the most exceptional circumstances, should be deciding how care would be provided.

“I felt that we are well served by the medical profession, in consultation with patients to the greatest extent possible, in making those kinds of decisions.”

Watch: ‘Decision-makers did not know how NHS worked', says Lord Simon Stevens

11:07 , Andy Gregory

Tories losing more voters to Farage’s Reform UK than Labour, poll finds

10:59 , Andy Gregory

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are losing more of their 2019 voters to the right-wing Reform UK party than to Labour, a shock new poll suggests.

Only one in 10 voters (11 per cent) who backed the Tories at the last election have switched to Keir Starmer’s party, a new YouGov survey found. But the poll found that slightly more (12 per cent) of voters who supported the Tories last time have switched to Reform UK.

The results suggests that Labour is still struggling to win over Conservative voters – and that Mr Sunak is under increasing pressure from the right.

The party co-founded by Nigel Farage – who remains honorary president – has seen its rating rise in recent months. The YouGov poll has Reform UK unchanged at 8 per cent, while the most recent Opinium poll has it up to points on 8 per cent.

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has the full story here:

Tories losing more voters to Farage’s Reform UK than Labour, poll finds

Revealed: Ministers braced for 840,000 Covid deaths

10:56 , Andy Gregory

The Covid inquiry has seen slides from a planning exercise which shows ministers expected 840,000 deaths in a “reasonable worst case scenario”, reports our political correspondent Archie Mitchell.

The exercise, on February 12, asked attendees to look forward to 14 April 2020.

It “helped sensitise” government departments to the type of pressures Britain might experience.

Watch: ‘People did not think Covid measures were fair', says former NHS chief

10:54 , Andy Gregory

NHS boss: ‘Occasional moments of tension and flashpoints’ but Hancock was trustworthy

10:52 , Archie Mitchell

The chief executive of the NHS during the pandemic has said Matt Hancock was trustworthy, but that the pair had “occasional moments of tension”.

Simon Stevens declined to pile in after days of hearings in which the then health secretary was described as a liar and someone who could not be trusted.

Lord Stevens said Mr Hancock was somebody he trusted “for the most part”, adding: “I'm not denying that there were a small handful of occasions during the course of a year, year and a half, when there were tensions.

“But that I don't think is particularly surprising given the circumstances under which everybody was working.”

Hancock and Stevens running NHS was ‘hideous prospect’, Cummings

10:44 , Archie Mitchell

The Covid inquiry has heard that Dominic Cummings thought Matt Hancock and Simon Stevens running the NHS during the pandemic was a “hideous prospect”.

A message read to the inquiry, sent by Mr Cummings, said: “I must stress that leaving Hancock in post is a big mistake.

“He's a proven liar, who nobody believes or should believe on anything. And we face going into an autumn crisis with him in charge of the NHS still.

“Therefore, we'll be back around that cabinet table with him and Stephens bullshitting again in September. Hideous prospect.”

Lord Stevens told the inquiry it was one of Mr Cummings’s “gentler epithets”.

Watch live: Rishi Sunak holds press conference as AI summit comes to a close

10:43 , Andy Gregory

As the Covid inquiry continues, Rishi Sunak is also holding a press conference at the end of his summit on artificial intelligence, which you can watch live here:

Hancock and Cummings tried to get rid of NHS chief executive

10:41 , Andy Gregory

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

Matt Hancock and Dominic Cummings tried to get rid of the boss of the NHS in the early stages of the pandemic, WhatsApp messages shown to the Covid inquiry revealed.

In January 2020 the then health secretary told Mr Cummings that Lord Stevens’s resignation was “in train”.

And the next month Mr Cummings asked him when Lord Stevens would be “off”.

Mr Hancock tried to reassure Mr Cummings that Lord Stevens had told him he would leave by Christmas 2020.

Mr Cummings replied: “We must get on with it now.”

Lord Stevens did not resign until July 2021, more than a year later.

Watch: Cobra meetings were not ‘optimally effective’, says former NHS boss

10:38 , Andy Gregory

‘Decision-makers did not know how NHS worked,’ Lord Simon Stevens

10:37 , Archie Mitchell

Simon Stevens has said a description by one of Britain’s top civil servants that decision-makers during the pandemic did not have a detailed understanding of the NHS was “accurate”.

The former NHS chief executive was asked about a statement by Helen MacNamara which said: “I do not remember anyone working in the centre… who had a detailed understanding of the way the NHS operated.”

“I think Helen’s description seems to be accurate,” Lord Stevens said.

‘People did not think Covid measures were fair,’ former NHS chief

10:34 , Archie Mitchell

The former boss of the NHS told the prime minister patients did not think Covid measures were “fair”.

A readout from a meeting between Simon Stevens, Boris Johnson, chancellor Rishi Sunak and others revealed that Lord Stevens said people “questioned whether they worked”.

“And if they did work, they wanted financial support,” he told the meeting.

Lord Stevens said his view was based on discussions with patients and staff in the NHS.

Cobra meetings were not ‘optimally effective’, former NHS boss

10:24 , Andy Gregory

The former chief executive of the NHS has said the government’s emergency Cobra meetings were not “optimally effective”, reports our political correspondent Archie Mitchell.

Simon Stevens told the Covid inquiry the meetings were very large and when then health secretary Matt Hancock was chairing them, other ministers avoided attending.

The size of the meetings also made it hard to “have very substantial discussions”, Lord Stevens added.

And he said if Boris Johnson had chaired more Cobra meetings to discuss the pandemic, then more secretaries of state would have chosen to attend.

Covid inquiry returns for fourth day in blockbuster week

10:09 , Andy Gregory

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

And we are back for the fourth day of what has been a blockbuster week at the Covid inquiry.

Lord Simon Stevens, the former chief executive of the NHS, is first up this morning and will be followed by Sir Christopher Wormald, the Department of Health’s former permanent secretary.

Up this afternoon is Dr Yvonne Doyle, the former medical director of Public Health England.

Stay tuned…

Medical professionals to receive honours for pandemic work

09:58 , Andy Gregory

Medical professionals who carried out important work during the Covid pandemic are among those receiving honours at Buckingham Palace.

Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham, who began researching the phenomenon of long Covid in 2020, and Charlotte Kume-Holland, who was appointed head of strategy for the Government’s vaccine deployment in January 2021 will be honoured.

Prof Chew-Graham began her research after becoming aware of patients presenting with symptoms early in the pandemic, in her work as a practising GP.

She has also co-designed a training module for other GPs on helping patients with long Covid. She will be made an OBE, while Ms Kume-Holland will be made an MBE.

Minister ‘deeply concerned’ over ‘misogyny’ in Covid inquiry revelations

09:47 , Andy Gregory

The “misogyny” on display in Dominic Cummings’ WhatsApp messages risks putting women off entering politics, Tory cabinet minister Michelle Donelan has warned.

The science secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think I am concerned about some of the revelations and the comments that are coming out here, because my biggest concern is that other women will be watching and hearing that rhetoric and deciding that maybe politics isn’t for them.”

She added: “I don’t condone misogyny in any workplace. It makes me deeply concerned or angry, if you like, around rhetoric that is not appropriate, especially as we are meant to lead by example.”

She said “we should be encouraging Parliament and the ministerial team to be as diverse as possible” and that is what Rishi Sunak has done as prime minister.

“What we want to make sure is that the next generation of politicians that come forward equally represent different parts of society and we’re not putting people off from politics, because that would be to the detriment of democracy.

“So I am concerned about the countless women that will be hearing this and I’m reading these comments.”

Ex-NHS and PHE chiefs to appear before Covid inquiry

09:30 , Andy Gregory

Today, the Covid inquiry is set to hear from former NHS England chief executive officer Sir Simon Stevens, former Public Health England medical director Professor Yvonne Doyle, and the permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, Sir Christopher Wormald.

Proceedings are due to start at 10am.

It follows several days of explosive and expletive-laden testimony from former No 10 advisers Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, and former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara.

Covid inquiry ‘deeply painful’, says MP

08:56 , Andy Gregory

SNP MP John Nicolson, whose mother died during the pandemic, has described Boris Johnson as “ghoulish” and said he found the inquiry “deeply painful”.

Officials thought UV rays could be ‘very helpful’ in stemming Covid, says ex-civil servant

08:19 , Andy Gregory

Ultraviolet (UV) rays were at one stage thought could be “very helpful” to minimise the spread of Covid, according to a former civil servant, in a revelation reminiscent of similar claims by then US president Donald Trump.

Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary, recalled a conversation she had with Professor Sir Chris Whitty – England’s chief medical officer (CMO) – during the early weeks of the pandemic.

In her written statement to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Ms MacNamara wrote under a section called “winter planning”: “I remember standing in the No 10 garden with the CMO at some time in the late spring and him saying that it looked like UV rays were very helpful to minimise the spread of Covid.

“Although this was undoubtedly good news, Chris did not want to overstate the impact and the potential benefit at a point when we still needed people to follow the guidance and not to socialise.

“He was worried that if the prime minister was told he would be too enthusiastic about reducing restrictions too quickly.

“We discussed how hard the winter 2020/21 might be; especially given that people would not have been exposed to the usual flu bugs circulating so we could be in for both a hard winter if Covid continued to circulate plus a hard flu winter with an NHS that had not had a break.”

Matt Hancock’s bizarre ‘batsman’ response to being offered help during the pandemic

06:30 , Matt Mathers

One of Britain’s most senior civil servants during the pandemic has revealed a cringe-inducing exchange with Matt Hancock in which he pretended to be a cricketer after she offered to help him with his role.

At the official Covid inquiry, counsel Andrew O’Connor KC asked about Helen MacNamara’s attempts to support Mr Hancock’s return to work after suffering from Covid.

Archie Mitchell reports:

Matt Hancock’s bizarre ‘batsman’ response to being offered help during the pandemic

Boris Johnson’s No 10 was toxic, sexist and devoid of humanity, says ex-top civil servant

05:30 , Matt Mathers

Boris Johnson oversaw a “toxic” culture of sexism and complacency at No 10 during the Covid crisis, according to scathing evidence given by a former top civil servant to the public inquiry.

Helen MacNamara, former deputy cabinet secretary, said she could not recall “one day” when Covid rules were followed at No 10 or the Cabinet Office – claiming “hundreds” of officials and ministers broke the guidelines.

Adam Forrest and Archie Mitchell report:

Boris Johnson’s No 10 was toxic, sexist and devoid of humanity, says ex-civil servant

So, ‘Party Marty’, why were No 10’s WhatsApp messages set to disappear?

04:30 , Matt Mathers

Former Boris Johnson aide Martin Reynolds struggled to answer questions at the Covid inquiry today. But with Dominic Cummings about to give evidence, it could be Johnson and Rishi Sunak who will soon be doing the squirming, writes Sean O’Grady.

Read Sean’s full piece below:

Why were No 10’s WhatsApp messages set to disappear?

Dominic Cummings: A timeline of Boris Johnson’s ex-chief adviser’s role in Downing Street

03:30 , Matt Mathers

Dominic Cummings, the former chief adviser to then-prime minister Boris Johnson, is giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

Mr Cummings was one of Mr Johnson’s first appointments when he succeeded Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and PM in the summer 2019.

His hiring was a signal to the hard-line Brexiteers who had ushered Mr Johnson to power that he was serious about delivering the withdrawal agreement from the European Union that his successor had failed to secure over months of tortuous negotiations.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

A timeline of Dominic Cummings’ career in Downing Street

ICYMI: Boris Johnson’s chaotic ‘flip-flopping’ made it ‘impossible’ to tackle Covid, advisers’ messages reveal

02:30 , Matt Mathers

Scathing WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson’s top team accused the former PM of creating chaos during the Covid crisis – complaining that he “flip-flopped” every day on direction and made it “impossible” to tackle the pandemic.

A series of startling new revelations emerged at the Covid inquiry, as messages shared between cabinet secretary Simon Case, chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance and top adviser Dominic Cummings exposed the disdain they held for Mr Johnson.

Adam Forrest and Archie Mitchell report:

Boris flip-flopping’ made it ‘impossible’ to tackle Covid, advisers’ messages reveal

ICYMI: Cummings’ rant to Johnson about Cabinet Office revealed during Covid Inquiry

01:30 , Matt Mathers

Dominic Cummings’ expletive-filled rant about the Cabinet Office has been shown in today’s Covid Inquiry sitting (31 October), where he revealed he had grown tired of Boris Johnson going ‘Jaws mode’.

‘We got big problems coming. CABOFF [sic] is terrifyingly s***’, he wrote in messages to the then-prime minister.

In the texts, it appeared that Cummings was putting pressure on Johnson to announce stricter legislation surrounding Covid, but insisted the Cabinet was delaying it as they ‘hadn’t done the work’ and ‘don’t work weekends’.

Watch the messages being read out here:

Cummings’ rant to Johnson about Cabinet Office revealed during Covid Inquiry

ICYMI: Scottish government to hand over 14,000-plus messages to UK Covid Inquiry

00:30 , Matt Mathers

The Scottish government is to share more than 14,000 messages with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry – with first minister Humza Yousaf to hand over unredacted WhatsApp messages, MSPs have been told.

In a statement at Holyrood, deputy first minister Shona Robison confirmed the Scottish Government had received a legal notice permitting it to hand over the messages on Monday.

Dominic Cummings denies misogyny claims despite obscene sexist rant at UK’s most powerful female mandarin

Wednesday 1 November 2023 23:30 , Matt Mathers

Dominic Cummings has insisted he is not a misogynist despite referring to a top civil servant as “that c***” in a series of foul-mouthed messages to Boris Johnson.

In an astonishing day of testimony at the Covid inquiry, shedding new light on a culture of sexism at the heart of the former prime minister’s government, Mr Cummings apologised for the “deplorable” language and even claimed he “was much ruder about men”.

Rod Ardehali reports:

Dominic Cummings denies misogyny claims despite obscene sexist rant

Final message from Boris Johnson before Dominic Cummings blocked him revealed

Wednesday 1 November 2023 22:30 , Matt Mathers

The final text messages between Boris Johnson and his former chief aide Dominic Cummings have been revealed at the Covid Inquiry.

While Mr Cummings was giving evidence, a particular Whatsapp message was shared in which the former prime minister criticises a “disgusting orgy of narcissism” in government, after stories appeared in the media about his wife Carrie Johnson.

Holly Evans reports:

Final message from Boris Johnson before Dominic Cummings blocked him revealed

ICYMI: Top civil servant ‘cannot recall single day when lockdown rules obeyed in No 10’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 21:30 , Matt Mathers

Boris Johnson’s Downing Street displayed an “unbelievably bullish” and dismissive approach to Covid despite being warned of a “total disaster”, a former senior top civil servant has said.

Helen MacNamara, former deputy cabinet secretary, said she could not recall “one day” when rules were followed at No 10 – and added that hundreds of officials and ministers broke the guidelines.

Adam Forrest reports:

Top civil servant ‘cannot recall single day when Covid rules obeyed in No 10’

Former civil servant says Dominic Cummings texts to ‘handcuff her’ are ‘horrible’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 20:30 , Matt Mathers

A former senior civil servant has said the Whatsapp messages sent by Dominic Cummings were “horrible”, after he called her a “c***” in an exchange with then-prime minister Boris Johnson.

Helen MacNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary, said the texts were “both surprising and not surprising”, and that Mr Cummings was “frustrated” with her, while she said she was just “doing my job as a civil servant”.

Holly Evans reports:

Former civil servant says Dominic Cummings texts to ‘handcuff her’ are ‘horrible’

How the top female civil servant abused by Dominic Cummings took quiet and deadly revenge

Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:30 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara, Whitehall’s most senior woman, told the Covid inquiry how Boris Johnson sanctioned behaviour that was “miles away from what is right or proper or decent or what the country deserves”, writes John Rentoul

Read John’s take on today’s evidence from Mc MacNamara below:

How the female civil servant abused by Dominic Cummings took quiet and deadly revenge

ICYMI: It was the most shocking evidence ever heard at a public inquiry

Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:30 , Matt Mathers

The language was obscene, the disregard for the lives of the elderly callous, and the incompetence monumental… Dominic Cummings’s first day of evidence at the Covid Inquiry damned a chaotic, dysfunctional government – but did it provide lessons for the next public health crisis? John Rentoul sifts the evidence.

Read John’s full piece here:

It was the most shocking evidence ever heard at a public inquiry

Summary of the day’s evidence session

Wednesday 1 November 2023 17:24 , Matt Mathers

During her evidence earlier, Helen MacNamara recalled the government being unprepared for the pandemic - a theme that has come up repeatedly during the inquiry.

She also described a “macho” and “toxic” culture at the top government and criticised Boris Johnson for not condemning a message sent to him by Dominic Cummings in which he referred to Ms MacNamara as a “c*nt”.

The former deputy cabinet secretary and ethics chief, one of the first to confirm she had been fined over a lockdown-busting event, also revealed that she could hardly recall a day when Covid rules were followed in Downing Street.

On one of the few days when the rules were adhered to, she said that members of the cabinet “moaned” about it afterward”.

Before the pandemic hit the UK, she claimed that officials at the heart of government “laughed” at how the crisis was being handled in Italy, where hospitals had been overwhelmed by the virus.

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:57 , Matt Mathers

Baroness Hallett has closed today’s session after hearing evidence from Helen MacNamara and Professor David Halpern.

Miss what happened earlier? Stay tuned for a recap of all of the action from today and yesterday.

Lots of ‘good people’ trying to do ‘the right thing'

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:49 , Matt Mathers

Lots of “good people” trying to do “the right thing” characterised the early part of the pandemic, professor Halpern tells the inquiry.

He said that one of the challenges he faced was translating scientific knowledge into advice that members of the public could understand, citing the Covid tracing app as one example.

He adds that he was promised the app would be available to use with “two to three weeks” but its delivery ended up taking six months.

Boris Johnson asked if blowing hairdryer up nose could kill Covid, says ex-aide Cummings

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:36 , Matt Mathers

Boris Johnson asked whether Covid could be killed by blowing a hairdryer up the nose, according to his former top aide Dominic Cummings.

The theory was quickly dismissed at the time by scientists as a crank idea with no foundation.

Jane Dalton reports:

Boris asked if blowing hairdryer up nose could kill Covid, says ex-aide Cummings

Behavioural Insights Team dismissed as ‘not understanding the science'

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:34 , Matt Mathers

Members of the Behavioural Insights Team were dismissed as “not understanding the science” at Sage meetings, Dr Halpern tells the Inquiry.

In written evidence, Dr Halpern said it was “some, not all” members of Sage failed to take onboard his views and those of his team.

He adds that “groupthink” affected decision-making at the outset of the pandemic.

‘Overconfidence’ in expert medical community led to presumtion Covid would be ‘flu-like'

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:20 , Matt Mathers

“Overconfidence” in the expert medical community at the outset of the pandemic led to a presumption that Covid would be a “flu-like wave”, Dr Halpern tells the inquiry.

This “blinded it to the pursuit of near-supression as a viable option and an expanded tracing system in particula,” he said in written evidence.

He added that as a result, “our decision-making process was vulnerable to systemic error”. Dr Halpern adds this “overconfidence” was the most “fundamental misstep” in the UK’s response to the virus.

Public were more influenced by Covid secure restaurants than money-off vouchers

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:10 , Matt Mathers

Research into the Eat out to Help Out scheme showed people were more likely to be influenced by Covid secure restaurants than money-off vouchers, Dr David Halpern has told the inquiry.

Participants were shown scenarios where different measures were put in place at restaurants, such as waiters wearing face masks and social distancing being observed.

This was compared to them being given £10 off tokens.

“There was a very clear result. People were very strongly influenced by anything what you might call Covid secure,” Dr Halpern said.

Public were ‘confused’ by the tiered lockdown system

Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:02 , Matt Mathers

The British public were “confused” by the tiered lockdown system, Dr David Halpern has told the Covid inquiry, Archie Mitchell reports.

The behavioural scientist said the rules were “getting more complicated”, people were “struggling to remember what they were” and some did not even know what tier they were in.

And referring to the government’s “stay alert” slogan, Dr Halpern said it was so bad because it “tells you to worry and doesn’t tell you what to do”, which is the “worst combination”.

Dominic Cummings Barnard Castle trip was ‘atrocious’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:58 , Matt Mathers

Dr David Halpern has said Dominic Cummings’s notorious lockdown trip to Barnard Castle was “very unhelpful”, Archie Mitchell reports.

The behavioural science expert giving evidence to the Covid inquiry said it was “extremely less than ideal”.

“People are very influenced by what they see others doing,” Dr Halpern said, claiming people are more likely to litter if they see other people doing so.

“It blows a hole in public confidence if you break the rules and then try to wriggle out of it,” he said.

Asked if the Barnard Castle trip was a “textbook example of what not to do”, Dr Halpern said it was “atrocious”.

No10 colleague corrected Dr David Halpern’s note from ‘not ready’ to ‘f*****’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:53 , Matt Mathers

Dr David Halpern has told the Covid inquiry how he was in a meeting in No10 when the “penny dropped” about the country’s pandemic preparedness, Archie Mitchell reports.

After writing the country is “not ready” for Covid in his notebook, a colleague, data expert and Dominic Cummings ally Ben Warner crossed it out, writing instead that “we are f*****”.

‘Mistake to use the phrase herd immunity’, Dr David Halpern

Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:42 , Matt Mathers

Dr David Halpern said it was a “mistake” to have used the term “herd immunity” in the early stages of the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.

And he said former Downing Street comms director Jack Doyle gave him the “hairdryer treatment” for using the term “cocooning” to refer to shielding older people in the same interview.

The president of the Behavioural Insights Team said the term was used in internal discussions as a “shortcut”, but was not government policy.

Of the phone call with Mr Doyle, Dr Halpern said: “They were very angry about it. But they were particularly angry about the word cocoon.

“My memory of it was because the word hadn’t been used in public, particularly, and they didn’t really want to get into that issue because it hadn’t been talked about publicly.”

Watch: MacNamara cannot recall one day when lockdown rules obeyed in No. 10

Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:32 , Matt Mathers

Ministers with kids in private schools did not understand ‘experience of whole population’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:54 , Matt Mathers

Speaking near the end of her evidence, Helen MacNamara said there was not enough thinking in government about children in state schools who make up the “vast majority” of those in the country, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said while her own children are “fortunate in many ways”, they do not have the same privileges as those whose parents are in rooms taking decisions in Whitehall.

Similarly to the government’s oversight of potential victims of domestic abuse, Ms MacNamara said states should be able to “know and understand the whole population in your decision-making”.

“It causes problems if you think that your life is the same as everybody else’s,” she added.

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:51 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara has now finished giving evidence.

Professor David Halpern, president and founding director of the Behavioural Insights team, is now giving testimony.

The team, set up in 2010 during the coalition government years, uses behavioural science to help ministers make better policy decisions.

It advised the government during the Covid pandemic.

‘Boris Johnson wanted it all and changed his mind often’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:46 , Matt Mathers

Boris Johnson “wanted it all and changed his mind often”, with his decision-making “swinging between extremes”, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

One of Britain’s top civil servants during the pandemic has said the then prime minister was caught between his “undoubted liberal instincts” and “the extremes of shutting everything down”.

“In reality all of the discussion and debate and choices were in the middle,” she told the Covid inquiry.

‘Elastic capacity of NHS meant staff working themselves into the ground,’ inquiry hears

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:37 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said she realised during the pandemic that the “flexible” nature of NHS capacity meant “the capacity of people working in the NHS to work themselves into the ground to keep people alive”, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said officials “kept being told” that NHS capacity was elastic, but soon realised the knock-on impact would devastate the health service.

Ms MacNamara told the Covid probe that “what is happening now” in the NHS - with record waiting lists and industrial strife - is a consequence of “stretching it too far” during the pandemic.

Top officials ignored whether PPE fit women’s bodies for weeks

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:31 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara and Downing Street’s deputy chief of staff Cleo Watson had “lots of conversations” about why top officials were not addressing PPE for women, Archie Mitchell reports.

After Ms MacNamara, Britain’s second most senior civil servant at the time, raised the issue with the head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid taskforce, it took two weeks for it to be discussed at a meeting with the prime minister.

MacNamara: ‘Women have died as a result of this'

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:18 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara sent a plea to a Cabinet Office colleague saying “women have died” as a result of not enough being done to consider how the pandemic was affecting them, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said issues that stemmed from a sexist culture in Whitehall included weeks of confusion about whether women could access abortion during the lockdown and not making provision for victims of domestic abuse.

“It is very difficult to draw any conclusion other than women have died as a result of this,” she told a colleague in an email seen by the Covid inquiry.

Calling for tangible changes, she said: “It isn’t enough that we keep observing this phenomenon.”

'Lack of female perspective led to disproportionate focus on shooting and fishing’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:15 , Matt Mathers

The lack of female perspective when key decisions were made led to a disproportionate focus on football, hunting, shooting and fishing, Helen MacNamara has told the Covid inquiry, Archie Mitchell reports.

“There was a serious lack of thinking about domestic abuse and the vulnerable, about carers and informal networks for how people look after each other in families and communities,” the ex-top civil servant said.

Ms MacNamara also said there was a lack of guidance for women who might be pregnant or were pregnant and what those who were key workers should do.

She cited the “absence from the room” of women, and said many key issues affecting women were not even considered.

‘Nobody in centre of government understood NHS,’ MacNamara

Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:13 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara has told the Covid inquiry she cannot remember anyone working in the centre of government who “understood how the NHS operated, Archie Mitchell reports.

One of Britain’s top civil servants during the pandemic, Ms MacNamara said the Treasury and national security are overrepresented, while the management of the state is underrepresented.

She said it was something she “observed” at the time, but it is now “striking” and speaks to “what needs to be different in the future”.

MacNamara: ‘Disappointing’ Johnson didn’t pick up on misogynistic language

Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:50 , Matt Mathers

It was disappointing that Boris Johnson did not pick up on “violent and misogynistic language” from Dominic Cummings, Helen MacNamara said.

Asked about Mr Cummings’ messages in which he made expletive-laden remarks about her, the former deputy cabinet secretary said: “It is also revealing of exactly the wrong attitude to the civil service. I was doing my job as a civil servant and I am confident about that.

“The way in which it was considered appropriate to describe what should happen to me, yes, as a woman, but, yes, as a civil servant, it is disappointing to me that the prime minister didn’t pick him up on the use of some of that violent and misogynistic language.”

MacNamara: I hav ‘profound regret’ about providing karaoke machine

Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:40 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara, who provided a karaoke machine for a lockdown-busting leaving-do on June 18, 2020, said she had “profound regret” about the situation.

She said she was worried about the “kind of culture” that staff were working in and the need for them to have space to spend time together.

“My profound regret is for the damage that’s been caused to so many people because of it, as well as just the mortifying experience of seeing what that looks like and how rightly offended everybody is in retrospect,” she said.

“I absolutely knew and thought it was actually important for there to be space for – particularly the private office – to be able to gather together and spend time together.

“That was entirely because of the kind of culture that they were working in and entirely because I was really worried about individuals breaking and suffering, and whether they were going to be okay, and how important their colleagues were to each other.

“I’m saying none of that in excuse of my own misjudgment. I’m saying none of that in excuse of thinking any of these things were okay. But it was a much more complex situation than has allowed to be presented for lots of different reasons.”

She added: “Mainly, I feel very strongly that is unfair on the junior civil servants who were caught up in it.”

Former civil servant says Dominic Cummings texts to ‘handcuff her’ are ‘horrible’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:20 , Matt Mathers

A former senior civil servant has said the Whatsapp messages sent by Dominic Cummings were “horrible”, after he called her a “c***” in an exchange with then-prime minister Boris Johnson.

Helen MacNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary, said the texts were “both surprising and not surprising”, and that Mr Cummings was “frustrated” with her, while she said she was just “doing my job as a civil servant”.

Holly Evans reports:

Former civil servant says Dominic Cummings texts to ‘handcuff her’ are ‘horrible’

Session paused for lunch

Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:09 , Matt Mathers

The inquiry is taking a break for lunch, resuming at 1.45pm to continue hearing evidence from Ms MacNamara.

In the meantime, we’ll post some highlights from her evidence this morning as well as anything we might have missed.

Live updates will resume after lunch.

Matt Hancock ‘pretended to bat away criticism like a cricketer’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:02 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara has described a bizarre situation in which she offered to help Matt Hancock in case he was not able to cope with the “enormity” of his role as health secretary during the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.

When the former top civil servant went to check on Mr Hancock, trying to “reassure him”, he said he was “loving” the responsibility.

He then “took up a batsman’s stance outside the Cabinet Room and said: “They bowl them at me, I knock them away,” according to Ms MacNamara.

Helen MacNamara piles into Matt Hancock criticism

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:56 , Matt Mathers

Matt Hancock was “regularly” telling people things that they later discovered were not true, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

The then health secretary “time and time again” assured officials that plans were in place for dealing with Covid, and Helen MacNamara said she was “surprised” to learn that they were not.

This was part of a pattern of behaviour from Mr Hancock, she told the Covid inquiry.

The former top civil servant said there was a “lack of confidence” from No10 that what the then health secretary said was happening “was actually happening”.

She said: “What we experienced that was said in a meeting as being under control or going to be delivered or something that was fine, subsequently a matter of days at times or weeks later we would discover that was not in fact the case.

“You don’t usually get everything’s okay and then two weeks later not only is it not okay it was not even there.

“That is very unusual”.

Civil servants making decisions were ‘pretty privileged’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:46 , Matt Mathers

Civil servants making decisions during the pandemic were always “miles away from most people in the UK”, Helen MacNamara has told the Covid inquiry, Archie Mitchell reports.

“For example, in policy discussions when the restrictions were loosening, I found myself explaining that even people who were lucky enough to have a back garden might not have separate back gate or outside loo,” she said.

The former top civil servant said the full cabinet were “a bit more grounded” and better at bringing a “wider perspective”, but were “not asked their opinion very often”.

MacNamara also said that cabinet government was essentially abandoned during the pandemic and that secretaries of state were not properly briefed on the science.

"I was concerned about what they saw as circumnavigating a cabinet governance and you were increasingly worried that the cabinet themselves were not being given a full scientific picture or able to properly be part of accountable decision making,” she said.

Culture of leaking ‘corrosive’ and caused ‘rushed’ decisions, MacNamara

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:36 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said the culture of leaking in Downing Street and Whitehall was “corrosive” and forced “rushed” decision-making, Archie Mitchell reports.

“I think it’s very important that there is good reporting,” she told the Covid inquiry.

But she said when “somebody decides to leak something ill-formed” it leads to everyone having to “rush around trying to come up with what the real answer ought to be in hours rather than days”.

Helen MacNamara was warned about Partygate chaos

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:31 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara, who brought a karaoke machine to a lockdown-busting party in Downing Street, was warned that socialising during the pandemic showed “utter contempt to the electorate”, Archie Mitchell reports.

After suggesting greater socialising among staff to boost morale, the former top civil servant was sent a note by John Owen, then private secretary to Mark Sedwill, saying: “Fundamentally disagree with this. When we are telling the country to socially distance it shows utter contempt to the electorate to openly flout those rules.

“Plus when we are going on about how tech and data will save the day for absolutely everything to admit that we can’t use it is not acceptable.”

MacNamara: ‘Hundreds of civil servants were on the wrong side of the line’ on Covid rules

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:28 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said “hundreds” of civil servants and ministers would have found themselves on the “wrong side” once the police drew a line at Boris Johnson’s Partygate birthday bash, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant told the Covid inquiry: “When the police drew the line of what was acceptable or not acceptable as the birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room, when they said that was the wrong side of the line, I’m certain that there are hundreds of civil servants and potentially ministers who in retrospect think they were the wrong side of that line.”

Helen MacNamara: ‘Parties should never have happened’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:25 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said lockdown-busting Downing Street parties should “never have happened”, including one to which she took a karaoke machine, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said she thought that by getting people to talk to each other more, “they might in fact be able to work better together”.

She told the Covid inquiry she was “not partying in No10, I was either at work or at home”.

And she said she would find it hard to pick “one day” on which the Covid rules were followed in Downing Street.

MacNamara recalls that the one time was a cabinet meeting and that everybody present “moaned” afterward that the rules were followed.

MacNamara: ‘Definitely a toxic culture, Cummings texts were horrible’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:14 , Matt Mathers

The former top civil servant described as a “c***” by Dominic Cummings said it was “horrible” to read his messages, Archie Mitchell reports.

But she said it was “both surprising and not surprising”.

She said Mr Cummings, then chief of staff to Boris Johnson, was “frustrated” with her.

But she said she was just “doing my job as a civil servant”.

“All I was doing was working in the service of the then prime minister,” Ms MacNamara told the Covid inquiry.

She added: “It is disappointing to me that the prime minister did not pick him up on the use of some of that violent and misogynistic language.”

‘Female perspective was getting missed’ through Covid, MacNamara says

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:05 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said the “female perspective” was being missed during the pandemic because of a “macho” culture and sexism in Downing Street, Archie Mitchell reports.

She said women were “ignored and excluded” and some who had worked with the Cabinet Office for years felt they had “become invisible overnight”.

This led to failures in policy areas such as domestic abuse and abortion.

Superhero bunfight’ culture would not have developed under Theresa May

Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:00 , Matt Mathers

A “macho” culture which led to Downing Street resembling a “superhero bunfight” would not have developed under Theresa May’s leadership, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant produced a report in May 2020 which found bad behaviour by senior leaders being tolerated, junior women being talked over and ignored and “too many people behaving as if they had been parachuted in to save the day”.

Asked at the official Covid inquiry about the report, Ms MacNamara said there was not “any world” in which the culture could have developed under Mrs May.

‘Maddening bureaucracy’ meant Downing Street did not have hand sanitiser for seven months

Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:48 , Matt Mathers

“Maddening bureaucracy” meant it took seven months for the Cabinet Office to install a hand sanitiser station by the door that links it to No10, Archie Mitchell reports.

Helen MacNamara described it as a “\door with a pin pad that anyone who worked for the Prime Minister was constantly having to touch on their way through”.

And she said there was “no proactive attempt to recognise and create the kind of HR support that a team like this needs”.

The former top civil servant said even she was “surprised” by how long it took and she “hopes” people are now being better looked after.

“As an organisation the Cabinet Office excels in creating the kind of faceless bureaucracy that is maddening even to those who are theoretically in positions of power,” she said.

The hand sanitiser was a “small but demonstrative example” of the “neglect” shown to staff.

‘No magic cupboard’ for dealing with crises, MacNamara

Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:43 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said there was “no magic cupboard” for dealing with crises such as Boris Johnson’s almost-fatal battle with Covid during the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.

“It is fair to say that there is no magic cupboard you can open in the Cabinet Office that has this is what to do in the circumstances,” she said.

She added: "It felt like working or living in a sort of dystopian nightmare, that just when one terrible thing happened then the next terrible thing was about to happen.

"And the prime minister being so gravely ill was obviously awful."

Downing Street officials were ‘laughing at the Italians’, MacNamara

Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:28 , Matt Mathers

Officials and ministers in Downing Street were “laughing at the Italians” in the early stages of the pandemic, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said she wanted to help Britons “do the right thing” to minimise the spread of Covid at the beginning of 2020.

But she blamed a “supreme confidence” in Downing Street which left her feeling “patronised” for raising the point that people wanted to “know the right thing to do”.

She told the Covid inquiry: “If we could just tell people what the right and kind and proper thing to do is, people will do that.

“And sitting there and saying it was great and sort of laughing at the Italians just felt… well it felt how it sounds.”

‘Absence of humanity in No10,’ MacNamara says

Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:24 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said there was an “absence of humanity” in Downing Street which led to the lack of a decision being made about prisoners during the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said there were “systemic problems” which caused “substantial issues” in managing the government’s response to Covid, including:

• “The sucking into No 10 of too much of the decision making by the political machine and this compounding a narrowed perspective.

• “A general lack of knowledge or understanding of how large parts of the state operate

• “An over-ideological (in my view) approach to individual decisions.

• “An absence of the accountable people in departments being involved or sufficiently involving themselves in decision making, ) cabinet government not serving its usual purpose.

• “The unreasonable pressure on the No 10 private office.

• “An absence of humanity.”

Department of Health wanted to lockdown at ‘latest possible moment’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:09 , Matt Mathers

The Department of Health wanted to wait until the “latest possible moment” to tell people they had to stay at home, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

She said officials in the Cabinet Office had got "much further" than those in the health department.

She said officials "knew that the planning wasn’t there" to support a stay at home order and "there needed to be more time to get some of this planning actually done".

Helen MacNamara said Britain was ‘absolutely f*****’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:00 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara told Dominic Cummings Britain was “absolutely f*****” in the early stages of the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant confirmed Mr Cummings’s account that, after a meeting with a fellow official, Ms MacNamara realised there was “no plan” to deal with Covid.

She walked into the prime minister’s office and said: “I have come through here to the prime minister’s office to tell you all that I think we are absolutely f*****.

“I think this country is heading for a disaster. I think we are going to kill thousands of people.”

Boris Johnson did not understand ‘basic’ science on Covid, MacNamara

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:59 , Matt Mathers

Boris Johnson did not "understand the science" and would "get it wrong" during the pandemic, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

Scientists would have to "repeatedly explain what they regarded as being quite basic points" to him about the pandemic, she added.

Following the science was a ‘cop out’, former top civil servant

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:50 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara has said the government’s “following the science” mantra during Covid was a “cop out”, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former deputy cabinet secretary said ministers were “just not making any decisions”, and would instead say “we’re just following the science”.

Ms MacNamara said the phrase was “useful as a comms line”, but “there is so much and so many different scientific questions involved”.

“I thought that was an odd thing to say religiously,” she told the Covid inquiry.

She added that it amounted to “abdicating responsibility to effectively an unelected group of people and putting everything on their shoulders, both because it wasn’t fair and right for them, but probably more importantly, it’s not fair and right in terms of who these choices belong to”.

Hancock said ‘time and time again’ Covid plans were in place - but officials ‘never got them'

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:44 , Matt Mathers

Matt Hancock told ministers and civil servants “time and time again” that plans to deal with Covid were in place as the pandemic struck, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

But the former top civil servant told the Covid inquiry that “we never got them” and she does not “understand a scenario where these plans did exist”.

‘There was a gap between how people live lives and the officials making decisions,’ MacNamara says

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:39 , Matt Mathers

The “gap between how people live their lives” and the “theoretical idea” of responding to people’s behaviour during the pandemic was a “big problem”, Helen MacNamara has said, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former top civil servant said there was a discussion about whether attending football games en masse was okay in the early days of Covid, with officials believing it was sage because fans are in large stadiums shouting into the ground.

But “when you are in the pub or on the train beforehand or on the concourse you are incredibly close to other people”, she said.

She added that nobody involved in that discussion had been to a football game in the way that “most people” do.

It looks like Dominic Cummings is tuned in

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:34 , Matt Mathers

A day after the Covid inquiry revealed Dominic Cummings called Helen MacNamara a "c***", it seems he is tuned in to hear her evidence, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former chief of staff in Downing Street said she was "right that the Cabinet Office failed to follow the orders given in 2020 to keep records of everything".

Mr Cummings said: "Helen right that CABOFF has failed to follow the orders given in 2020 to keep records of everything - I asked for this to happen - so did Helen - yet the Cabinet Office has destroyed a lot of documents - e.g some that I have accidental copies of do not show up in official records."

MacNamara: ‘Macho’ atmosphere at meetings as Johnson said UK would ‘sail through’ pandemic

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:31 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara said Boris Johnson was “confident” that Britain would “sail through” the pandemic in January and February 2020, urging officials to be “careful not to overcorrect”, Archie Mitchell reports.

“The atmosphere in the meetings I attended was confident and macho,” the former deputy cabinet secretary said.

Ms MacNamara said it was “striking” that there was a “de facto assumption that we’re going to be great” without any of the behind the scenes work.

“This in itself was not a new thing, but it seemed even more so than usual, that we were going to be world beating at conquering Covid-19 as well as everything else,” she said.

MacNamara: ‘Monomaniacal focus’ on election and Brexit put us on back foot

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:24 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara has said civil servants were made to feel as though “everything else could wait” for the Brexit question to be settled by 2019’s general election, Archie Mitchell reports.

“And then there was going to come a very large amount of change,” she said.

As a result, the civil service was on the “backfoot” at the beginning of 2020, in the months before the first Covid lockdown.

‘No business as usual under Johnson,’ MacNamara

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:19 , Matt Mathers

There was “no clear business as usual under Boris Johnson”, Helen MacNamara has told the official Covid inquiry, Archie Mitchell reports.

Her witness statement to the probe into the pandemic said: “Whitehall had developed some unhealthy habits in terms of ways of working and it was a low trust environment in terms of relationships between the civil service and the prime minister and his political team.”

MacNamara: ‘Extraordinarily difficult to access documents’

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:17 , Matt Mathers

Helen MacNamara has compiled a 100-page witness statement for the official Covid inquiry, which was made “extraordinarily difficult” by the government, Archie Mitchell reports.

The former deputy cabinet secretary said she was prevented from accessing “even the most basic pieces of information” from her ex-employer.

“It’s been hard enough for me to work out what was happening, and I was there,” she told the inquiry.

One of the issues was that her phone had been wiped once she gave it back.

She also said January 2020 felt like the beginning of a decade of Boris Johnson’s government, which in the end lasted around three years.

And we are off... live from the press annex at the Covid inquiry

Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:05 , Matt Mathers

After yesterday’s hearing revealed a tirade by Dominic Cummings against Helen MacNamara in which he called Britain’s former top female civil servant a "c***", she will today have the chance to respond, Archie Mitchell reports.

Ms MacNamara will no doubt be questioned about her role in the Partygate scandal, after she brought a karaoke machine to a leaving bash for Downing Street aide Hannah Young during the pandemic.

Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website