Covid inquiry: What can we expect from the week in Cardiff?

The UK Covid Inquiry is sitting in Cardiff for three weeks

This is set to be the most significant week of the Wales module of the UK Covid inquiry yet.

After hearing from doctors, scientists and advisers it is now the politicians: the decision-makers themselves, under the spotlight.

Among others, outgoing First Minister Mark Drakeford, and the two men vying to replace him - Vaughan Gething and Jeremy Miles - will give evidence this week.

The decisions made by these witnesses will have an unprecedented impact on your life during Covid.

They are likely to face questions about how seriously Covid was being taken by the Welsh government in early 2020, what the relationship with UK government was like and the impact this had on decision-making and rules.

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Did Welsh ministers introduce different rules to England for the sake of it, as suggested by the former UK government Welsh secretary Simon Hart last week?

Were aspects of that relationship an "omnishambles" as described by Chief Medical Officer Sir Frank Atherton?

Mark Drakeford will be questioned about his use of WhatsApp during the pandemic this week

For Mr Drakeford and Mr Gething in particular there is likely to be scrutiny around their use of WhatsApp: what might have been lost to auto-delete and why, as well as what they used the app for.

In Mr Drakeford's case how much did he actually use it?

The first minister himself has not been consistent in answering that question so far.

And there will undoubtedly be questions around one of the most contentious, and for bereaved families, heartrending decisions - the policy around the testing of patients discharged to care homes and the asymptomatic testing of all care home residents and staff.

Vaughan Gething admitted last year he had not read a major pandemic preparedness report

There is also the possibility that this week will have a bearing on the race to become the next Welsh Labour leader and first minister.

Mr Gething's campaign has made much of the fact that he was "tested" in the toughest of environments as health minister until May 2021 and is therefore ready to take the top job.

But in a previous hearing last year Mr Gething admitted to not having read a major pandemic preparedness report.

If there are still Labour members undecided, could a good or poor performance sway them? Voting closes on Thursday.

Mr Miles was the Welsh government's counsel general (law officer) and minister for European integration, as well as being tasked with Covid recovery, until moving to the education brief in 2021.

What will Jeremy Miles' evidence reveal about the decision making during Covid?

For a man who wants to be leader, how much did he make his voice heard around that cabinet table as the big decisions were being made?

And never mind the next first minister, after steering Wales through the pandemic with his message of caution, and the suggestion that things here were being handled better than in England - how does that stand the test of time and the test of the inquiry for Mark Drakeford?

For a politician whose standing, popularity, at least at the time, and profile was defined by Covid, what will Wednesday's day of evidence do for his legacy?