A damning official report has concluded that Boris Johnson "actively encouraged" a chaotic and toxic culture inside 10 Downing Street while the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the United Kingdom, potentially costing thousands of lives.
A Culture of Chaos at the Heart of Power
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry's second report, an 800-page document split into two volumes, delivers a scathing indictment of the Johnson administration's handling of the crisis. It found that the first national lockdown in March 2020 could have been avoided altogether if not for a "failure to act promptly and effectively".
The report states that a toxic environment prevailed at the centre of government, exacerbated by the "destabilising behaviour" of individuals including the Prime Minister's chief adviser, Dominic Cummings. Rather than curbing this behaviour, the inquiry heard from multiple witnesses that Mr Johnson "intentionally sought to foster conflict and a chaotic working environment" to aid his decision-making.
This culture meant that the loudest voices dominated, while the views of other colleagues, "particularly women, often went ignored, to the detriment of good decision-making." The inquiry highlighted that Mr Cummings used "offensive, sexualised and misogynistic language," including referring to a senior female civil servant with a highly offensive term in a WhatsApp message.
Catastrophic Delay and Avoidable Deaths
The inquiry places a sharp focus on the critical delays in imposing restrictions. It concluded that all four UK governments "knew enough to spur them into action" by mid-February 2020, describing their collective failure to take control of the situation as "inexplicable."
By March 12, the situation was "little short of calamitous." The government's Coronavirus Action Plan was already outdated upon publication, community testing had stopped, and authorities had lost track of the virus's spread. "Any opportunity to get on top of the virus had been lost," the report states.
Most devastatingly, the inquiry presents modelling showing that if the first full lockdown had been introduced on March 16, 2020—the day advisory restrictions were announced—instead of later that month, the death toll in England's first wave alone would have been reduced by 48%. This equates to approximately 23,000 preventable deaths.
Optimism Over Realism
The report also criticises Mr Johnson's communication and his tendency for undue optimism. It highlights his statement made just four days before the first lockdown that "we can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks." This, the inquiry says, was "never a realistic prospect" and built a "false belief among the public that the pandemic would be relatively short-lived." In reality, the final Covid-19 legal restrictions in England were not lifted until February 24, 2022—101 weeks later.
Other senior figures were also singled out for criticism. Then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock was found to have "gained a reputation among senior officials and advisers at 10 Downing Street for overpromising and underdelivering," with concerns about his "truthfulness and reliability" raised from June 2020.
Led by Baroness Heather Hallett, the Covid-19 Inquiry is in its fourth year. This report focuses on core decision-making during the pandemic, building on its first publication in July last year which covered the UK's preparedness. The inquiry continues its work with several more modules yet to be completed.
