Covid inquiry: Michael Gove defends Boris Johnson over lockdown decision-making

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has disputed claims Boris Johnson was "incapable of making decisions" about lockdowns during the pandemic in evidence to the Covid inquiry.

He said introducing a lockdown was "difficult" for Mr Johnson because it went against his "political outlook".

But he accepted lockdowns came too late both in March and November 2020.

Mr Gove also apologised to victims and bereaved families for the government's "mistakes" during the pandemic.

He said as a senior minister who was "close to many of the decisions that were made, I must take my share of responsibility for that".

Mr Gove said politicians were "human beings" who were "fallible", and "every decision was difficult and every course was bad" at the time.

Personal responsibility

While some mistakes were "unique and specific to the UK government", Mr Gove said "we need to remember that governments everywhere made errors".

Mr Gove was the first senior cabinet minister at the centre of the UK government's response to the pandemic to give evidence in this part of the inquiry.

As cabinet office minister he was part of a core team of key decision makers in 2020 along with Mr Johnson, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Rishi Sunak, who was chancellor and is now prime minister.

His admission to errors and his own personal responsibility at the time was a significant moment in the inquiry, as well as his apology to bereaved families.

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Much of Mr Gove's testimony focused on how decisions were made by senior ministers and civil servants in Mr Johnson's government in the first year of the pandemic.

In previous testimony, some of Mr Johnson's most senior advisers - including Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain - have characterised the former prime minister as indecisive and liable to change his mind.

Lee Cain, No 10's former director of communications, said Mr Johnson had been "torn" between the scientific evidence and public opinion, describing the pandemic as the "wrong crisis" for the former prime minister.

But in his testimony on Tuesday, Mr Gove was loath to criticise his former cabinet colleagues.

When asked about the lockdown announced by Mr Johnson in March 2020, Mr Gove said: "A decision to restrict freedoms in an unprecedented way went against his instincts and the principles that governed his political outlook."

The levelling up secretary said Mr Johnson preferred "gladiatorial decision-making" and wanted to see opposing arguments "rehearsed in front of him".

Mr Gove also said he had a "high opinion of Matt Hancock and believe many of the decisions he made displayed foresight and wisdom".

Mr Hancock is due to begin his evidence to the inquiry on Thursday, with Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to appear before Christmas.

Mr Gove told the inquiry ministers like himself who believed the government should have acted earlier had a responsibility to point out to the then-prime minister the need for action.

"I don't think that one can single out the prime minister at the time for criticism," Mr Gove said. "We all deserve our share retrospectively of criticism."

Admissions of failure

The senior Conservative MP said the UK was not well enough prepared for the pandemic, that testing should have been better planned and that there were errors with PPE procurement.

He acknowledged there was not enough focus on the impact on children.

In a foul-mouthed WhatsApp exchange with Mr Cummings at the beginning of the pandemic, Mr Gove said the government was "missing golden opportunities" to act.

He wrote: "I will carry on doing what I can but the whole situation is even worse than you think and action needs to be taken or we will regret it for a long time."

When asked to expand on his comments, Mr Gove said at the time he was concerned about the "ability and structure" of the Cabinet Office to deliver government's priorities.

He then apologised for his language and added he feared the "weaknesses" in government would be further exposed by Covid.

At one point, the Surrey Heath MP noted there was a significant body of evidence that believes Covid was "man-made", only to be told the issue was not part of the inquiry's terms of reference.

Where and how the Covid virus originated is still a matter of intense scientific debate.

One controversial school of thought - which has been described as a "likely" explanation by the FBI - is that the virus was accidentally leaked by a Chinese laboratory which was researching similar viruses.

When asked about Mr Gove's comments, the prime minister's spokesperson said the World Health Organisation "needs to continue to examine all possibilities" about the origins of Covid.

Former deputy chief medical officer Professor Dame Jenny Harries began giving evidence after Mr Gove.

She was asked about comments she made at a Downing Street press conference in April 2020 when she said the UK was a "very highly prepared" for the pandemic.

She said the claim felt wrong "in retrospect" and had been based on an "external objective assessment".

Prof Harries will return to the inquiry at 10:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Later this week, the inquiry will also take evidence from Mr Hancock and the former Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.

The inquiry is taking evidence as part of its second module on core UK decision-making and political governance.