The Covid Inquiry

[gosub]

Yes it was Raab.

It worked better because the period of initial chaos and the big u-turn had already passed by then, there were still specific issues caused by the pandemic and earlier mismanagement and shit priorities, but it wasnt a giddy period. And because its a machine-like structure that really runs things, and evidence heard so far was that Raab liked the predictability of that machine, he liked to stick to whatever was planned for him each day, so everyone knew where they stood. Plus Johnson is lazy and changes his mind too often and cant chair meetings.

Looking at the shouty sweary abuse coming out of Boris / Cummings plus the Cummings rose garden presser shows how fucked up their priorities were/are . Do come across as part of the problem though given Raab handling of other matters amazed he was an improvement

 

[elbows]

Smell the priorities even when Italy was demonstrating the likely reality.

 

[elbows]

A treasury advisor is up now (Clare Lombardelli, former Chief Economic Adviser, HM Treasury). They are claiming that they did consider the cost of the virus (and peoples spontaneous behaviour), not just the cost of lockdowns and circuit breakers. But this is exposed as bullshit when it mattered, eg the inquiry pulled up a document that was advice to the chancellor about the autumn 2020 circuit breaker and it just uses strong language to go on about the harms of the circuit breaker and advises the chancellor to push back against it in an important meeting he was attending.

 

[elbows]

Useless witness, dodged all the important stuff.

She was asked if she was aware that the chancellor had been called Dr Death. No she wasnt.

Speaking of Dr Death, Angela McLean who was the source of that label was also pretty scathing about one of HMTs models and HMTs abilities - this came up on the screen today:

 

[elbows]

The next witness was Stuart Glassborow (Former Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister). He was at the treasury before and afterwards, and his main role was to link the PMs office to the treasury.

His evidence was also dull and useless.

The one interesting bit should cause a sensation in the press, if they notice and dont mind gunning for these targets:

Unfortunately they didnt bring it up on the screen, but from a Patrick Vallance diary entry in regards a 25th January 2021 meeting........

The PM is recorded as saying that he wants tier 3 March 1st, tier 2 April 1st, tier 1 May 1st, and nothing by September. And he ends up by saying that....

we must bring in the pro death squad from HMT.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

though given Raab handling of other matters amazed he was an improvement

as one of my old teachers used to say, going from worse to bad is at least an improvement...

 

[steeplejack]

Johnson, Sunak, Cummings, Sedwill, Hancock should all be serving long prison terms for corporate manslaughter and malfesance in public office. I've always thought the sociopathic dwarf Sunak responsible for killing tens of thousands of people, in seeding a surge of covid infections with his deranged "Eat Out to Help Out" plan to boost his mates in the hospitality industry.

Of course they'll spend the rest of their days untroubled and in great comfort whilst the rest of us will be left to get on with it.

 

[elbows]

The next witness, Ben Warner, was not easy to get many words out of, he wasnt a confident speaker. WhatsApps etc from him behind the scenes at the time were much more sensational than his careful utterances today.

Anyway first I will highlight some treasury-related stuff to carry on the theme from earlier int he day, and I will turn to a different topic later on this evening.

\





(VFM is value for money)

The Guardian article linked to in their above chat is this one:

Is Rishi Sunak the most dangerous man in government? | Sam Bowman

A serial backer of attempts to ‘get back to normal’ during a deadly pandemic, the chancellor’s strategy threatens lives, says Sam Bowman of the International Center for Law & Economics

www.theguardian.com

 

[elbows]

Ran out of time to explore the topic I wanted to get into this evening, so will instead just post the messages shown today that indicated more of the surreal situation people who knew better found themselves in as the second wave grew.

 

[elbows]

The 'Provisional Redaction' in the above has been revealed in the downloadable version of that document (my original was captured from the live feed video).....



)from https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/06174422/INQ000269199_0003.pdf )

 

[elbows]

A few more points from the Institute For Governments report into the Treasury during the pandemic. And also the death squad note from Vallances diary entry that didnt come up on the screen earlier.

(Institute for government report is at https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/w...3/11/06174420/INQ000226497_0001-0006-0007.pdf )

 

[elbows]

BBC report on the pro death squad:

Covid Inquiry: Boris Johnson referred to Treasury as 'pro-death squad'

The ex-PM used the term while discussing easing lockdown rules in January 2021, the Covid Inquiry heard.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

BBC report on the pro death squad:

Covid Inquiry: Boris Johnson referred to Treasury as 'pro-death squad'

The ex-PM used the term while discussing easing lockdown rules in January 2021, the Covid Inquiry heard.

www.bbc.co.uk

talk about a damning indictment

and thanks for all your reporting elbows I couldn't possibly start to get a grip without it

 

[elbows]

Vallance diary entry strikes again....

(Cx = chancellor)

 

[elbows]

Chancellor again:

 

[elbows]

This dodgy thatcherite conflict of interest non-declaring git was giving evidence this afternoon:

Edward Lister, Baron Udny-Lister - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Some of the questions were interesting, the answers were mostly not. In particular the inquiry was developing questions about Sunaks role in arguing for a quicker relaxation of the first lockdown and avoiding the second lockdown, but they werent going to get a decent answer out of this witness, and he himself said that he thought the first lockdown should have ended sooner.

 

[elbows]

They've not quite finished with him yet, and this just came up on the screen, from his written evidence:

 

[elbows]

This stupid arse thought the regional tiering thing was going to work (even though it was given too much time to work and failed, leading to lockdown in Nov and Jan) and didnt think those two lockdowns were the right thing to do.

 

[elbows]

By the end of November 2020 (coming out of a lockdown) even Johnson seemed somewhat sensible compared to Lister.

 

[elbows]

I havent read Listers written evidence yet but the BBC certainly picked up on a particular bit of it!

I will fish this bit out of the document shortly.

Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid on TV - ex-adviser

Boris Johnson suggested being injected with Covid on TV would calm public fears, ex-adviser says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[elbows]

(from https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/07181359/INQ000237819.pdf )

 

[elbows]

Lister is such a bollock that when he explained in his written evidence why he didnt like the 2nd and 3rd lockdowns or think they were necessary, he came out with absolute shit about the timing of the Kent(Alpha) variant and vaccines that didnt match the timing seen in reality. I'm not going to quote every single relevant passage, or point out what the actual timing of the variant and the vaccines were, so just offer a couple of his paragraphs as examples.

These sorts of shits embedded in our establishment, along with the crap leadership of Johnson, doomed us to more death that time around than we had in the first wave.

 

[elbows]

The sensational stuff about Johnson from Listers evidence had come out in the press before I believe, though probably unsourced back then?

Hancock and Michael Gove actually having a grip on the right action to take for the 2nd/3rd waves and being voices of reason in key meetings of that time is also something that has emerged in press reporting long ago.

 

[elbows]

The Sedwill evidence hasnt been very interesting very often so far, so I will only highlight a few things, and I'll mostly leave the details to rolling media reporting, such as:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67301894

It does include his excuse and apology for the chickenpox party stuff, and stuff such as concern about Johnsons stamina after Johnsons return from serious illness.

Speaking of that BBC live updates page, one of their reporters claims the following:

The early questioning has focused on decision-making processes in government.

Mark Sedwill confirmed that the cabinet - which is made up of elected politicians - is supposed to be the ultimate decision-making body.

Sedwill insisted that cabinet ministers made many of the “key” decisions in the early stages of the pandemic but weren’t as “fully participative” as they should have been.

Others have suggested that the cabinet was sidelined - with too much power in the hands of unelected advisers, particularly Dominic Cummings.

As a result, some have argued that too few perspectives were heard and mistakes were made as a result.

Boris Johnson is certainly not the first prime minister to face criticism for not properly involving cabinet ministers.

But given the seriousness of the decisions being taken - and the effect those decisions had on millions - the issue is likely to play a key part in the inquiry’s conclusions.

No, I dont think it will be such a key part at all. Like the cabinet itself, this will be a minor angle most of the time, although there will be a few exceptions here and there. A lot of cabinet stuff is political theatre that the media political soap opera wankers love, Cummings isnt wrong about some of that.

 

[elbows]

Sedwills excuse for being shit and behind the curve at the start was that it just looked that way because he didnt have the luxury of crying about doom, loads of stiff upper lip shit to keep up departmental staff morale etc. Piss off.

As well as being a chickenpox idiot who wasnt happy with the way he was sidelined as the original crap plan was ditched, we are now seeing some evidence about his later attempts to go back to a impractical population segmentation plan. Including:

 

[elbows]

 

[elbows]

 

[elbows]

Apparently there is also a WhatsApp conversation between those two, whoch they didnt bring up on the screen, where Sedwill mention "Sack Hancock - to save lives and protect the NHS". Hopefully I will get to see that in writing this evening.

 

[elbows]

Also note that sometimes when a Chris or a CW is referred to, it isnt always Whitty, it is sometimes Chris Wormald who is the shit permanent secretary for the department of health and social care.

 

[elbows]