Hallett again defends inquirypublished at 15:29 Greenwich Mean Time 29 November 2023

15:29 GMT 29 November 2023

Jim Reed
Health reporter

For the second time in two days Baroness Hallett has intervened to defend some of the lines of questioning in this inquiry.

Earlier in the day former Chancellor Sajid Javid said he believed Dominic Cummings acted as prime minister in "all but name" at the start of 2020.

Asked to respond to that, Dominic Raab replied: "I don't say this with any disparagement on this committee or this inquiry, but there is a whole circus that can be built up in the media and elsewhere around the internal battles between individuals."

He said he had "no beef" with Javid but did not "find that a serious allegation" and did not want to get into the "soap opera" of Westminster bubble politics.

Hallett broke in to assure Raab that the inquiry didn't want to "hear rude words" but to see if there was anything wrong with the way decisions were made at the time.

She made a similar intervention yesterday when Michael Gove was giving evidence, and is clearly sensitive to allegations the inquiry is too focused on the internal rows taking place in Downing Street at the time.

The inquiry is on a short break.

We've already got a few lines to bring you from Dominic Raab's testimony, so stay tuned.

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

Inquiry lawyer O'Connor asks about the role of Boris Johnson's chief aide during the pandemic, Dominic Cummings.

Raab praises Cummings for "correctly" identifying "structural changes" required in government, observing that "Whitehall can feel like a closed shop".

But he rejects any suggestion that Johnson was a "puppet" for Cummings.

"I'm afraid I don't find that a serious allegation," he says, going on to opine that "you have to rely on advisers" when working as a top-level politician.

Earlier Sajid Javid suggested that some of the key decisions during the pandemic were being made by Cummings rather than Johnson. Johnson is due to give evidence to the inquiry himself in due course.

Raab says he has "no beef" with Javid, though disputes the position put forward at the inquiry earlier today by his former colleague.

The conversation turns to whether or not the cabinet of the day was sufficiently diverse in its outlook when dealing with the pandemic.

Raab acknowledges that it's hard to make a cabinet a "perfect ecumenical reflection of society", but stresses that he believes the government at the time was "sensitive to all areas of society".

But he also says politics is about finding the "right balance", explaining that "conversation cannot go on endlessly" in politics - and at some point, a team has got to act decisively.

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

With Dominic Raab up on the stand, we also have a different lawyer asking questions - Andrew O'Connor KC.

O'Connor opens his questioning with defining Raab's roles during the pandemic - as foreign secretary and first secretary first, with a four week period in April 2020 when he covered the role of prime minister while Boris Johnson was ill.

Quoting Raab's own words, the first secretary role was sometimes a "stop-gap", supporting the prime minister in tasks that fell outside other ministries.

Just before Sajid Javid finished his testimony, Kirsten Heaven, representing the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group questioned him on whether there had been sufficient avenues for the leaders of the devolved administrations to talk to the prime minister during the pandemic.

Javid said relationships were "very constructive" at his level, but that he "wouldn't really fully know" if there was an issue at that higher level, because he hadn't been involved.

He later told the inquiry that he "could sense some tension at that level" but it was "not something I regularly came into contact with".

Jim Reed
Health reporter

While Dominic Raab gets going, here is a look at one of the issues that's been brought up repeatedly so far in this inquiry, and that's NHS capacity.

The UK entered the pandemic with fewer doctors and nurses per head than many other countries. And far fewer hospital beds and intensive care spaces than some of our closest neighbours.

"In responding to a pandemic, your available health capacity is a big determinant," says Javid.

The issue of NHS capacity - in particular bed space - has been a running issue under successive governments, he added, and the whole NHS model "needs to be looked at."

He is repeating his call - first made in the press earlier earlier this year - for a Royal Commission to reach political agreement on the future funding of the NHS.

He believes this type of cross-party agreement is needed to make sure the health service has "the resources it needs to cope with the next pandemic which might come along."

The inquiry has finished questioning Sajid Javid.

Dominic Raab, the former deputy prime minister who stood in for Johnson at one point during the pandemic, is being sworn in right now.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

Cecil finishes her questions. Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallet asks Javid if there are any other lessons to be learned for the future.

"There can definitely be improvements" in the way different government departments coordinate what they're doing, he says.

"Capacity of the NHS is an issue" and has been for successive governments.

"We don't have many beds per head in England, in the UK", says Javid, adding that comparable countries have two, three or four times what the UK has.

Following the booster vaccine campaign, Javid says he was keen to remove a lot of restrictions, but felt there had to be capability in place "to detect any future variant, or perhaps even a future virus with a new pandemic".

To do this, Javid says he pushed for greater capacity in labs and science centres, to continue random testing and waste-water testing.

"I was only able in the end to secure a small portion of all of that," he tells the inquiry.

Javid also notes that he wanted a Centre for Pandemic Preparedness, but then-PM Boris Johnson dropped the plan.

"He told me not to say anything about it publicly, and 'let's just wait and see if people notice' was his attitude" Javid says.

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

A significant moment just then, which raises more questions than it answers.

It emerges that Sajid Javid, the then-health secretary, wasn’t invited to a meeting on 18 December 2021 about the Omicron variant.

Asked when he became aware of the meeting, he says simply "yesterday".

He adds: "You’d have to ask the former prime minister why I wasn’t invited."

One for Boris Johnson in the coming weeks…

Javid is being asked about the government's handling of the Omicron variant in November 2021.

Lawyer for the inquiry Joanne Cecil quotes the diary of then-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance. It refers to the emergence of the variant and notes that there was a lot unknown about it at the time.

Vallance's diary claims the prime minister was "exasperated" and that No 10 considered itself to be "at war" with the team at No 11.

But Javid denies this. He says his memory is that the two of them "moved together".

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

Joanne Cecil, the lawyer asking questions this afternoon, asks Sajid Javid about how much long Covid was taken into consideration when relaxing restrictions.

Javid says the impact was "well understood by me and key people making decisions including the prime minister's office".

He says: "What the government was trying to do was take a balanced approach."

Javid says there is "no perfect time" to remove NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) but "it's much better to do it in the summer."

"If you don't do it in the summer... you are likely left with those NPIs for an extended period," Javid says, referring to winter time when the virus was more prevalent. He says there are costs associated with that.

Asked whether there were plans for a public awareness campaign about the risks of long Covid, Javid answers: "I don't."

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

The inquiry has now returned from lunch and former health secretary Sajid Javid is back in the hot seat to continue giving his evidence.

Later on this afternoon, former foreign secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab is due to take his turn.

You can tune in by pressing play at the top of the page.

Javid's evidence reveals tussles in cabinetpublished at 13:58 Greenwich Mean Time 29 November 2023

13:58 GMT 29 November 2023

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

The evidence presented by Sajid Javid so far gives a sense of the tussles going on in cabinet as the government sought to lift lockdown restrictions in summer 2021.

It suggests Javid was cautious about opening up the economy in the days and weeks after he became health secretary in June that year.

He repeatedly said he wanted to be clear that any move to "stage four" of the government’s plan to ease restrictions should not be described as "freedom day", as some had called it at the time.

He also stressed that the link between infection and hospitalisation was "weakened but not broken" by July 2021, as a result of the vaccine rollout.

This morning’s session also gave a sense of the types of questions Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are likely to face when they give their own evidence to the inquiry.

An extract from Sir Patrick Vallance’s diary says the then-chancellor Rishi Sunak "pushed very hard for faster opening up" and said "we either believe in the vaccine or we don’t".

In the same extract suggests Boris Johnson dismissed the idea of consulting with employees and trade unions, seeming to refer to those not back in the office as "all the malingering work-shy people".

This morning's evidence points to a wider systemic issuepublished at 13:51 Greenwich Mean Time 29 November 2023

13:51 GMT 29 November 2023

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

Before hearing from Sajid Javid, the UK Covid inquiry heard this morning from Prof Dame Jenny Harries.

Her evidence may have provided some protection for ministers - who've faced criticism over the issue of discharging patients from hospitals to care homes.

But it also raises questions as to why Matt Hancock, the-then health secretary, claimed to have put a "protective ring" around care homes - when emails from officials were warning that some patients with Covid would need to be discharged to residential care.

Harries also refused to directly criticise ministers when asked whether "central government should bear significant responsibility for the safety and responsibility of care home workers".

But her answers did point to a wider systemic issue. She said the social care system was "not well established enough to ensure that central control happened effectively", with responsibility delegated to local authorities and many care homes operating as private businesses.

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

With the inquiry on its lunch break, here's a look back at what we've learnt so far:

Prof Dame Jenny Harries

• Face masks: Harries - the deputy chief medical officer at the time - said she voiced concern during the start of the pandemic about encouraging people to wear homemade face coverings because of a lack of evidence in their favour
• Domestic violence: She said she drew attention to safeguarding risks early in the pandemic - but could only advise, not formulate policy

Sajid Javid

• Decision-making: Javid - who was the health secretary from June 2021 - told the inquiry many of the key decisions at the beginning of the pandemic were made by Boris Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings - and not the PM himself
• Leaks: He described No 10 as "dysfunctional" and added that leaks were a significant issue during his time in government

The inquiry will continue at 14:00, when the lawyer will finish questioning Javid.

Image source, UK Covid inquiry

Before its lunch break, the inquiry also heard from another one of Sir Patrick Vallance's diary entries - dated 2 July 2021, when the cabinet was discussing the possibility of voluntary mask-wearing.

The lawyer highlighted a section in which Vallance described how Johnson "wants everyone back to work", and wrote that he argued "we can't have the [expletive] of consulting with employees and trade unions".

In Vallance's words, the PM added: "They need to all come back to work" and referred to "all the malingering work-shy people".

Javid said he couldn't confirm whether the government was open to consulting with trade unions more widely.

He highlighted another point in Vallance's diary which said the PM and chancellor were "against" the "more cautious" Michael Gove - cabinet minister at the time - and Javid.

He said again that it was not "freedom day" because restrictions would stay in place, and confirmed that he remained more cautious in general throughout autumn.

Javid was also asked about an extract from the diary of Sir Patrick Vallance - dated 30 June 2021, which detailed a discussion about restrictions in schools.

Vallance was then the government's chief scientific adviser and kept a private diary. The diary entry said the ONS (Office for National Statistics) showed a big increase in Covid infections since the previous week. The discussion centred on the policy that required a whole school class to be sent home when one child tested positive.

Javid reminded the inquiry he had only been in the job for four days at that point, and added that he was concerned about the impact on children's education.

One unnamed colleague mentioned in Vallance's diary said they were worried that “macho right-wing decisions” might be made by the new secretary of state which would be "playing to the audience".

Javid denied that this was a fair characterisation of what he was doing.

While Sajid Javid has been in front of the Covid inquiry, Rishi Sunak has been in the Commons for the weekly session of PMQs. The inquiry was brought up by the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.

Alluding to evidence previously heard by the inquiry, Siddiq said that the chief scientific adviser during the pandemic (Sir Patrick Vallance) in wrote in his diary in late 2020 that: “Rishi thinks just let people die and that’s OK.” In Vallance's diary, those alleged words from Sunak are reported by Dominic Cummings, and not heard directly from Sunak himself.

In the Commons, Sunak denied saying the words. She told Siddiq that if she checked the evidence, the chief scientific adviser “confirmed” he did not hear him say it, adding: “That’s because I didn’t.”

The PM said he looked forward to giving his evidence to the inquiry himself.