Not one day when Covid rules followed in No 10 - top civil servant

1. Previously the UK's second-most senior civil servant, Helen MacNamara says she would struggle to pick a day when Covid rules were properly followed in No 10
2. She told the Covid inquiry a sexist and macho culture meant women's perspectives were being missed in advice and decision-making
3. Last year, MacNamara was fined for attending a 2020 lockdown party in the Cabinet Office. She tells the inquiry it "should never have happened"
4. In today's session, the former deputy cabinet secretary also criticised Boris Johnson's "breezy confidence" about the unfolding pandemic in March 2020
5. And she recounted the "horrible" moment she realised the UK was heading for "total disaster", 10 days before the first lockdown
6. The inquiry also heard today from Dr David Halpern - chief executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the "nudge unit"
7. The purpose of the inquiry is to learn lessons on a matter of public concern; no-one will be found innocent or guilty during the proceedings

Lack of football match restrictions led to alarm bells - MacNamara

Former deputy cabinet minister Helen MacNamara is being asked about restrictions on people attending football matches in March 2020.

She says the government position at the time was that no restrictions were required, as games would be taking place outdoors.

MacNamara says this is the moment "alarm bells start ringing", after questions were raised in a regular briefing with opposition politicians.

She says she believes that nobody in government discussions about football had ever "been to a football game the way most people have done", and therefore couldn't identify the potential risks.

Johnson was confident UK would 'sail through' pandemic - MacNamara

Boris Johnson was overconfident that the UK was going to overcome Covid during Cabinet meetings in the early days of the pandemic, Helen MacNamara, the second-most senior civil servant at the time, tells the inquiry.

Johnson was "very confident that the UK would sail through," and the atmosphere in meetings was "confident and macho", she says. MacNamara noted a "jovial tone" in the government and felt "patronised" when she raised concerns.

She found it striking that there was a “de facto” assumption that the UK would excel in handling the pandemic, without any room for questioning or doubt.

Asked if this approach affected policy, MacNamara said it was hard to tell. While she wasn’t listened to, others may have been. This "unbelievably bullish approach" was “not a smart way” to run government meetings, she said.

She also says Johnson's "breezy confidence" in the early days was jarring for her.

UK Covid Inquiry

Did the government listen to warnings about Covid enough?

Nick Eardley

Political correspondent

Helen MacNamara is painting a picture of ministers being far too optimistic about Covid. She says the mood in meetings was "unbelievably bullish".

The de facto assumption, she argues, was that the UK was going to be great at tackling the virus.

MacNmara was a key official who wrote briefing papers for Boris Johnson to take to cabinet.

But she argues he failed to heed some of the caution in those papers.

Government developed some unhealthy working habits - MacNamara

Former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara is asked about how ready the government was for the pandemic.

Andrew O'Connor KC focuses on comments made by MacNamara on her more than 100-page long witness statement regarding preparations for a "once in a generation event". An extract of the statement is pictured below.

The event in question was Brexit, MacNamara confirms, and many officials in government were uncertain about their role.

"The Cabinet Office and 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," her statement reads.

She goes on to say that she was unsure about whether "there would have ever been a normal pattern of work for Mr Johnson".

UK Covid Inquiry

MacNamara claims government phone was deleted

Nick Eardley

Political correspondent

There have been a number of rows about what should and shouldn't be available to this inquiry.

The UK government has been criticised before for not wanting to hand over unredacted WhatsApp messages (it eventually did after a court ruling).

The Scottish government is involved in such a row just now - with senior people accused of deleting messages.

As a former top official - who knows how Whitehall works better than most - it's significant that Helen MacNamara was so critical of the Cabinet Office.

She says it was "extraordinarily difficult" to get "basic pieces of information".

She also reveals her government phone was deleted. There will be questions for the government about why.

Watch the Covid inquiry live

We're bringing you key updates from the Covid inquiry, but you can watch every moment by pressing the Play button at the top of this page.

If you can't see the icon, refresh your browser or reload this page on the BBC News app.

Like yesterday, we're expecting some very strong language on the live feed from the inquiry as messages are read out in evidence.

While we wouldn't normally broadcast such strong language, we believe there is a clear public interest in reporting the inquiry's proceedings in full.

BBC

MacNamara outlines career history

UK Covid inquiry

The session starts with Andrew O'Connor KC, the inquiry counsel, asking MacNamara to go through her different roles in the civil service.

She's yet to face any questions about Covid itself.

Wednesday's hearing begins

Today's session of the Covid inquiry is just getting under way with some initial remarks from Baroness Heather Hallett.

This morning we'll be hearing from Helen MacNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary.

Her evidence will be assessed as part of the second phase of the inquiry - which is examining the "core UK decision-making and political governance" component.

Dr David Halpern, president and former chief executive officer of the Behavioural Insights Team organisation, will give evidence this afternoon.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest. And don't forget that you can stream the hearing live by pressing the play button at the top of this page. A warning that there may be strong language.

Scottish government will release WhatsApps to inquiry

While Dominic Cummings was being grilled at yesterday’s evidence session, the Scottish Government announced it would finally release all its WhatsApp messages from during the coronavirus pandemic to the Covid Inquiry.

The Scottish government has come in for criticism for failing to disclose them in time to the UK Covid inquiry - with rumours senior figures, including Nicola Sturgeon, may have deleted messages.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison said the government would hand over more than 14,000 electronic messages, mostly WhatsApps, following a formal legal order.

She assured the inquiry "all requested messages held will be shared in full and unredacted" soon.

The Scottish government is also running its own separate inquiry to examine the response to Covid-19.

What did Dominic Cummings say about Helen MacNamara?

EPA

Yesterday the inquiry was shown a number of WhatsApp messages in which Dominic Cummings – Johnson’s top adviser at the height of the pandemic – used expletives and abusive language about Helen MacNamara in August 2020.

“I will personally handcuff her and escort her from the building,” he said.

"We cannot keep dealing with this horrific meltdown of the British state while dodging stilettos from that [expletive].”

But, in his testimony, Cummings denied any accusation he was being misogynistic.

Cummings recounted in parliament more than two years ago what he claimed McNamara had said to him at the beginning of the pandemic: "I've been told for years there is a whole plan for this. There is no plan. We are in huge trouble."

She’s up next in front of the Covid inquiry this morning – shortly we’ll be able to hear her response.

'I would've liked to hug my mother' - bereaved West End star

West End theatre star Ruthie Henshall said hearing the findings from the Covid inquiry on Tuesday left her "so deeply shocked and offended".

Henshall, from Ipswich, wants to introduce Gloria's Law - which would be named after her mother who died during the pandemic.

"I watched my mother die through a care home window... I would have liked to have just hugged her but instead I watched her confused," Henshall told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning.

"People died of loneliness," she added.

She said she got a FaceTime call with her mother only once every three weeks, because the device had to go around the entire care home.

The inquiry was told that Boris Johnson agreed with some Tory MPs who thought Covid was "nature's way of dealing with old people".

The allegation came from diary entries by former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance. In reaction to the comments read out at the inquiry, Henshall said the UK treats older people "appallingly".

Speaking to the same programme this morning, Deputy PM Oliver Dowden stressed that the inquiry had been set up for the victims: "We set it up for the wider society to understand the lessons of what happened during that unprecedented crisis."

The aims of the inquiry

PA Media

This public inquiry was launched by then-PM Boris Johnson in May 2021, and will cover decision-making in Westminster and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

You might be wondering what the overall aim of a public inquiry is? Well, it aims to respond to "public concern" about events.

Any inquiry has the power to make people appear as witnesses, and to provide evidence. Inquiries are expected to publish conclusions and may make recommendations.

But no-one will be found innocent or guilty, and the aim is to learn lessons.

Members of the public are being encouraged to share their stories with the inquiry by filling in this form online.

Who is Helen MacNamara?

BBC

We'll soon be hearing evidence at the Covid inquiry from Helen MacNamara, who was the deputy cabinet secretary during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before that role, MacNamara was the government's head of ethics.

During the pandemic, MacNamara was reported to have attended a leaving do for a fellow civil servant in June 2020, providing a karaoke machine for the event.

The event was investigated by the police alongside other government gatherings during lockdown. MacNamara apologised after receiving a fine from police last year.

She went on to leave government in the final lockdown and take a job at the Premier League - which she left earlier this year to focus on her family, as reported by Politico.

MacNamara has previously described her work environment during the pandemic: "What people probably never understood was just how testy and toxic and unpleasant it got as a place to work during those periods," she said in an interview for Laura Kuenssberg's State of Chaos series.

What else have we learned this week?

So far this week, we’ve heard from four people close to former prime minister Boris Johnson during the pandemic.

Here are the key takeaways:

• On Monday, Martin Reynolds – the head of Johnson’s private office when he was prime minister – apologised “unreservedly” for parties in Downing Street during lockdown
• Exchanges in a WhatsApp group of top officials weren’t kept after the “disappearing messages” function was switched on. Reynolds said he couldn’t recall why, but insisted the information would have been recorded in other ways
• Imran Shafi – another aide of the then-PM – said the Cobra emergencies committee was focused on short-term plans leading to a lack of Covid control measures
• Lee Cain – one of Johnson’s closest and longest-serving aides – said the pandemic was the “wrong crisis” for the prime minister’s “skill set”, describing indecision and delay in No 10
• And Dominic Cummings – Johnson’s top adviser at the height of the pandemic – painted a picture of a government which was “dysfunctional” and had no plan to lock down the country or shield the vulnerable, even as the virus was spreading
• He added it was “pretty insane” that Johnson and other senior figures were on holiday in February 2020, as the Covid crisis escalated
• A reminder that Johnson's spokesman has declined to comment on the evidence, but says the former PM is "co-operating fully" with the inquiry

Today we’ll be hearing from Helen MacNamara, the second-most senior civil servant in the country at the time.

Top civil servant fined over Partygate to appear at Covid inquiry

James FitzGerald

Live reporter

Today, the Covid inquiry hears from former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara. She was the second-most senior civil servant in the country during the pandemic.

Last year, she apologised after receiving a fine from the police for attending a 2020 lockdown party in the Cabinet Office that saw her hire a karaoke machine.

MacNamara was the focus of disparaging messages sent by Cummings in 2020 that were read to the inquiry yesterday. Cummings denied being misogynistic.

Today's hearing starts at 10:00 GMT. Following with me are Alys Davies, Malu Cursino, Sam Francis and Alex Smith.

You'll be able to watch live by pressing the play button at the top of this page.