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Boris Johnson did not believe Covid-19 was a “big deal” in March 2020 and thought “his main danger [was] talking [the] economy into a slump”, according to WhatsApp messages sent by Lee Cain, the ex-UK prime minister’s former communications chief.
Cain told the official Covid inquiry on Tuesday that Johnson “should have done more” in early 2020 as the global health crisis started to unfold.
“I don’t think there was any clarity of purpose, any really serious outline, plan to deal with Covid at that particular point,” he said.
Cain admitted the government got its assessment of the virus “wrong” in early 2020, initially viewing the UK as “incredibly well prepared”.
The inquiry is examining the government’s response to the pandemic, including the UK’s preparedness and senior decision-making. It is due to run until the summer of 2026.
Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, is also expected to testify on Tuesday.
In a WhatsApp message sent on March 3 2020, Cain told Cummings: “He [Johnson] doesn’t think it’s a big deal and he doesn’t think anything can be done and his focus is elsewhere, he thinks it’ll be like swine flu and he thinks his main danger is talking economy into a slump.”
Cain said no “warning flares” had been communicated to Johnson at the beginning of the year to suggest the UK was not well prepared.
In further WhatsApp messages shown to the inquiry on Tuesday, Cummings told Johnson there were “big problems coming” as the Cabinet Office was “terrifyingly shit”.
On March 12 2020, he said: “We got big problems coming. CABOFF [Cabinet Office] is terrifyingly shit, no plans, totally behind pace, me and Warners and Lee/Slacky are having to drive and direct. We must announce TODAY — not next week — ‘if feel ill with cold/flu stay home. Some CABOFF want delay cos (sic) haven’t done the work and don’t work weekends.”
Cain told the inquiry there “had been a decade of pre-preparedness and we were amongst the best in the world to deal with a pandemic and it was being monitored closely by officials in the Department of Health”.
“I think it was quite rational at that point to think it was a departmental lead and they would continue to inform us as and when required and when it needed more attention,” he added.
“You can see it goes up the agenda in Number 10 as we move through January and into February,” said Cain. “Clearly we got that assessment wrong, but I think you can see why we made the judgments that we did at the time.”
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