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‘We look like a terrible, tragic joke’: Covid WhatsApps show government chaos

Messages from Simon Case, Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings document tension at the heart of government during Covid

By Ruby Lott-Lavigna
‘We look like a terrible, tragic joke’: Covid WhatsApps show government chaos
The Covid inquiry was shown Whatsapp chats from the early days of the pandemic in which cabinet secretary Simon Case said government decision making made it look like a ‘terrible, tragic joke’ | Jack Hill / POOL / AFP
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Damning WhatsApp messages shown to the Covid inquiry today reveal key Boris Johnson adviser Simon Case describing the government as a “terrible, tragic joke” and labelling Carrie Johnson the “real person in charge”.

The messages between cabinet secretary Case, former Downing Street head of communications Lee Cain and former chief adviser Dominic Cummings, highlight the tensions and exasperation around the decisions of Johnson’s government.

The messages from 14 October 2020 were shown to the inquiry during a discussion about the functions of the Cabinet Office during the pandemic.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0