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The UK government’s planning for the Covid-19 pandemic was “inadequate” with no real strategy in place to deal with the crisis that unfolded, according to Boris Johnson’s former principal private secretary.
Martin Reynolds, who headed the private office of the prime minister, told the coronavirus public inquiry on Monday that the country’s leaders should have been “far more vigorously testing our arrangements for what was coming”.
Reynolds was challenged on why there was no record of any communication between himself and Johnson on the topic of coronavirus policy during the February 2020 half-term as the disease was spreading.
He said he could not recall any reason for the absence of messages. Pushed on why Johnson had not been kept up to date on the crisis during the 10-day period, he responded: “I probably should have.”
In May 2020, when England was subject to lockdown restrictions, Reynolds, dubbed “Party Marty” by the tabloid media, organised a “bring your own booze” event for more than 100 staff in the Downing Street garden.
Just weeks before the government announced there would be an official investigation into its handling of the pandemic, Reynolds switched on a “disappearing message function” in a WhatsApp group between senior Number 10 staff, the inquiry heard.
Reynolds said he was unable to recall why he decided to change the settings in April 2021 but said it might have been “because I was worried of someone screenshotting or using some of the exchanges and leaking them”.
The Covid inquiry is examining the government’s response to the pandemic, including preparedness and ministerial decision-making. It will last at least until 2026.
Lee Cain, Johnson’s former communications chief, and Dominic Cummings, his former chief adviser are due to testify on Tuesday.
Asked by Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel for the inquiry, whether the government had been “unable structurally to be able to cope with a crisis of this magnitude”, Reynolds admitted the dynamics in early 2020 were “very different” to before the 2019 general election.
“There had been a very big shift in overall focus pre-election on Brexit and the Brexit negotiations and that had been the overriding focus of that entire period,” he said. But after Johnson’s victory, the leadership’s attention was focused “on other things” including the “divergent politics” between Johnson and Cummings.
Reynolds said there had been “unease” over Cumming’s so-called “shitlist” of civil servants who felt at risk of losing their jobs under what was seen as a “potentially more muscular approach” to running Whitehall. Cummings was the “most empowered” chief of staff ever to work in No 10, he added.
Reynolds also said that Johnson “did blow hot and cold” when it came to making decisions during the pandemic, including the “most difficult choices the country was facing”.
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