British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (the country’s Finance Minister during the pandemic) was quoted as saying the government should “just let people die” at the time, rather than impose a second national lockdown, the inquiry into how Britain handled the crisis heard this week.
The inquiry is examining the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down large sections of the economy and killed more than 220 000 people in Britain. Reuters reports that it is due to run until 2026.
Patrick Vallance, who was the government's chief scientific adviser during Covid, made a note in his diary on 25 October 2020 about a meeting involving then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sunak, who was Finance Minister.
The diary entry shown to the inquiry recorded how Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s most senior adviser during the pandemic, had relayed to Vallance what he said he had heard at the meeting.
Vallance quoted Cummings in his diary as saying: “Rishi thinks just let people die and that’s okay. This all feels like a complete lack of leadership.”
A spokesman for Sunak said the Prime Minister would set out his position when he gives evidence to the inquiry, “rather than respond to each one in piecemeal”.
Senior government officials have repeatedly said the government was unprepared for the pandemic, and that a “toxic” and “macho” culture hampered the response to the health crisis.
The danger for Sunak is that evidence at the inquiry undermines his attempt to cast himself as a change to the chaotic leadership of Johnson, even though he was one of the most senior ministers in that government.
Previous evidence has shown he was branded “Dr Death” by one government scientific adviser over his “Eat Out to Help out” policy in the summer of 2020, which subsidised meals in pubs and restaurants but was criticised by health experts for spreading the virus.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
UK got it wrong on Covid: Long lockdown did more harm than good
The cost of lockdown: Britain records 70 000 non-Covid ‘extra deaths’
Death scenarios justifying second UK lockdown 'four times too high'