Covid inquiry: Key points from Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain evidence

On Tuesday, the Covid Inquiry heard evidence from two of Boris Johnson's key advisers at the height of the pandemic - Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain.

Here are the key points that emerged from the hearing.

Older people

The inquiry was shown notebook entries written in 2020 by then chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, in which he said Mr Johnson was "obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life".

In another entry from December 2020, Sir Patrick wrote that Mr Johnson said his party "thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature's way of dealing with old people - and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them".

Mr Cain said Mr Johnson was concerned about society as a whole, but added that some of the language is not "what I would have used".

Mr Johnson's spokesman has so far declined to comment on the evidence given at these hearings, but says he is "co-operating fully" with the inquiry.

• Johnson said old should accept Covid fate, note shows

Shielding plans

Mr Cummings said that ahead of the first lockdown in March 2020, there was "essentially no shielding plan at all" for those most at risk of severe disease.

He said that was "one of the most appalling things" and added that the Cabinet Office was "trying to block us creating a shielding plan".

Asked whether decision-makers considered the impact on vulnerable groups such as ethnic minority groups and domestic abuse victims, he said "that entire question was almost entirely appallingly neglected by the entire planning system".

'Dumpster fire'

Since leaving government Mr Cummings has been vocal about the failings of the civil service and ministers during the pandemic and he repeated many of his criticisms to the inquiry.

He described the Cabinet Office - the department that supports the PM and the running of government - as a "dumpster fire" and a "bomb site" when he was appointed in 2019.

Mr Cain was shown a message Mr Cummings sent Mr Johnson on 12 March 2020 which read: "We've got big problems coming... Cab off [cabinet office] terrifyingly [expletive], no plans, totally behind on pace."

Asked by the inquiry if he agreed, Mr Cain said: "The point was nobody quite knew who was the point person who should be driving this machine.

"If you asked me now who was supposed to be doing that... I couldn't tell you."

• 'Moronic': Vicious Covid WhatsApps reveal No 10 battles

'Wrong crisis'

Mr Cain said the pandemic was the "wrong crisis" for Mr Johnson's "skill set", describing dither and delay.

"I felt it was the wrong challenge for him mostly," he added.

He said Mr Johnson had been "torn" between the scientific evidence and public opinion on the one hand and media opinion and the Tory Party "pushing him in the other direction".

Earlier, the adviser had told the inquiry: "Indecision probably was a theme of Covid that people did struggle with inside No 10."

Mr Cummings reiterated his past criticisms of his one-time boss, telling the inquiry that everyone called Mr Johnson "the trolley" due to his tendency to change his mind.

Macho culture?

The inquiry read out messages in which Mr Cummings aggressively criticised then senior civil servant Helen MacNamara

Inquiry lawyer Andrew O'Connor KC asked Mr Cain if there was a "macho culture" in Downing Street during the pandemic.

Mr Cain replied that "there was a lack of diversity - and that was the same in gender, in socioeconomic, and ethnic minority".

"If you lack that diversity within a team, you create problems in decision-making and policy development and culture," he added.

Later in the day, Mr Cummings was asked if he contributed to a toxic atmosphere in government. "No," he replied.

He said conversations he had with the prime minister about government problems "contributed to bad relations... but it was necessary and justified".

The inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC read out messages from Mr Cummings in which he used a strong expletive to described then-senior civil servant Helen MacNamara.

In another message from August 2020 Mr Cummings said he would "personally handcuff her and escort her from the building".

Mr Cummings apologised for his "appalling" language but added: "A thousand times worse than my bad language is the underlying issue at stake that we had a Cabinet Office system that had completely melted."

He insisted he was not misogynistic adding: "I was much ruder about men."

Borders and testing

Mr Cummings said flights from China should have been closed down around New Year's Eve in 2019.

He said "serious border control" and an effective test and trace system would have been preferable to a national lockdown in early 2020.

However, he added that the government was advised the UK did not have the capability to close borders and that, even if it did, that would "only delay things by a relatively trivial amount".

"If you're going for a single-wave 'herd immunity by September' fundamental strategy, then faffing around at the borders wasn't regarded as relevant or coherent," he added.

Barnard Castle

Mr Cummings defended his controversial journey to Barnard Castle

Mr Cummings was also questioned on his infamous trip to Barnard Castle at the height of the first lockdown.

He said he had moved his family out of their London home due to security concerns and said that was "completely reasonable" and legal.

Pushed on whether it was necessary for him to drive with his family 30 miles from his parent's home to Barnard Castle, he said he wanted to test if he was well enough to drive back to London but acknowledged he did not need to have his wife and child with him for that particular journey.

The inquiry revealed messages from July 2021 in which Mr Johnson said Mr Cummings was an "utter liar" and that he only discovered Mr Cummings had travelled to Durham, when stories emerged in the newspapers.