Boris Johnson’s government acted like an “opposition” party and may have lost control of Covid-19 almost three weeks before the first national lockdown was introduced, a top civil servant admitted today.
Giving evidence to the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry, former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Mark Sedwill echoed previous testimony on the chaotic early days of the pandemic in Number 10.
As well as conflicting predictions of possible death tolls, the then prime minister reportedly received no updates on the virus during a key ten-day period in late February, while vital COBRA meetings were delayed because of concerns that Matt Hancock was only calling them to make himself look important.
