Was No 10 really so chaotic that such questions need answers? – Owl

The Covid inquiry has sent Boris Johnson a list of 150 questions and requests for his witness statement, documents released by the Cabinet Office have shown.

Jon Stone www.independent.co.uk

Key questions the former PM has been asked include:

• Did you say ‘let the bodies pile high’?
• Was there any scientific evidence on Eat Out to Help Out?
• Did the Cabinet secretary really suggest Covid ‘chickenpox parties?’
• Did you really say you felt ‘manipulated’ by scientists into imposing a lockdown?
• When and how did you first learn of Covid?

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry wants to see WhatsApp messages and notebooks kept by Mr Johnson to build a picture of how decisions were taken in government up to and during lockdowns.

But Rishi Sunak has refused to release unredacted documents as his government on Thursday launched legal action in a last-ditch attempt to protect the material.

Mr Johnson has said he would “happily” hand over the messages directly to the inquiry but has failed to explain why he has not disclosed messages sent during the 2020 Covid lockdown.

Other questions Mr Johnson has been sent by the inquiry include:

• Did the UK government/Cabinet Office structures and processes for dealing with emergencies at prime minister, Cabinet, Cabinet Office, ministerial and departmental levels work effectively and properly enable key decisions in relation to the response to Covid-19 to be taken?
• To what extent were key decisions made outside formal government processes, for example in informal and non-minuted meetings?
• Was the advice that you received from the government chief scientific adviser (GCSA) and chief medical officer (CMO) transparent and clear throughout the pandemic? Were the roles of the GCSA and CMO effective in harnessing and distilling advice from Sage to you and other core decision-makers? Did you feel able to properly challenge their advice?
• Did you have any concerns regarding the adequacy or sufficiency of scientific and other expert advice (including where relevant, any underpinning data) on which decisions were based? If so, what were these concerns?
• Between January and July 2020 did you receive advice from the then Cabinet Secretary that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock MP, should be removed from his position? If so, why?
• What steps did you take in January 2020 to ascertain the state of the UK’s emergency preparedness to deal with a pandemic?
• Notwithstanding that the DHSC was the lead government department, why did you not attend any Cobra meetings in relation to Covid-19 prior to March 2 2020, given the seriousness of the emergency?
• Why did you attend a personal/social meeting on the evening of March 19, after you had called on the UK on March 16 to stop all non-essential contact with others?
• When did you become aware that Covid-19 could be spread person to person asymptomatically?
• Please explain the concept of “herd immunity” and the extent to which seeking herd immunity formed part of the Government’s strategy for preventing a second wave following the lifting of social restrictions. To what extent did the Government consider that it would be possible to shield the vulnerable from severe infection as part of such a strategy?
• Please confirm whether in March 2020 (or around that period), you suggested to senior civil servants and advisers that you be injected with Covid-19 on television to demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat? Please provide details of when any such conversation took place and the circumstances in which it was had?
• Did the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord Sedwill, on March 12 2020 (or around that period), advise you to inform the public to hold “chickenpox parties” in order to spread infections of Covid-19? What was your response to any such advice?
• What was your understanding as to whether individuals being discharged from hospital into care homes would first be tested for Covid-19? Did the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care provide you with an assurance, at any stage, that this testing would be in place for such individuals prior to discharge?
• Please explain when and why a national lockdown was adopted in March 2020 as the UK Government’s strategy for responding to the pandemic.
• What discussions did you have with the then Chancellor, about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme prior to its implementation in August 2020? Did you support the introduction of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme at the time? Did you consider at the time, the potential impact of the scheme on the number of Covid-19 infections?
• Did you say on or around September 22 2020 that you felt that Sage had “manipulated” you into imposing the first lockdown?
• In or around autumn 2020, did you state that you would rather “let the bodies pile high” than order another lockdown, or words to that effect? If so, please set out the circumstances in which you made these comments.
• To what extent was there a four-nation approach to the Covid-19 response? Please comment on the effectiveness of intergovernmental working and decision-making between the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive during the pandemic.
• Please explain what impact, if any, you consider alleged breaches of social restriction and lockdown rules by ministers, officials and advisers, and the associated public debate at that time, had on public confidence and the maintenance of observance of those rules by the public?

French towns and cities have banded together to fight Airbnb and other tourist rental platforms which they blame for hollowing out historic centres, driving up property prices and forcing locals to leave.

Charles Bremner www.thetimes.co.uk

Campaign groups from 20 communities, ranging from the fortified Breton harbour of Saint-Malo to Marseilles port and Chamonix, the Mont Blanc mountain resort, have joined forces to press for state action against what they describe as a blight that is disrupting life in their towns.

“This is destruction. Entire neighbourhoods are being emptied,” Franck Rolland, a Saint Malo activist who heads the national group, said at its first news conference. Airbnb, by far the biggest platform, is advertising 800,000 offers of accommodation in France, with 22,000 in Paris, the group says.

Beyond the nuisance of noisy parties, suitcases clattering on cobblestones and messy rubbish bins, the rental boom is creating an exodus of local residents, forcing the closure of shops and schools and causing a labour shortage, the campaigners say. Their main target is not owner-occupiers, but people and companies who buy up property to cash in year-round on the lucrative tourist rental business.

In the southwestern Basque country, where local authorities have recently imposed restrictions, campaigners say half the homes in the village of Guéthary are short-term rentals, with 45 per cent in the port town of Saint Jean-de-Luz and 40 per cent in the resort city of Biarritz. In Saint Malo’s walled city, the first town to crack down on tourist lettings, local anger is reported to have manifested itself in damage to renters’ vehicles. Bastia, Corsica’s main port, began imposing curbs this week.

In the heart of the Alpine city of Annecy, Brigitte Cottet, an anti-Airbnb campaigner, said half the apartment buildings in her street were occupied by tourist rentals. “In the old town, 23 buildings have been declared dangerous for lack of upkeep. Airbnb owners don’t repair roofs,” she told Le Monde.

The campaign has been launched after a bill tabled by a cross-party group of MPs to curb the conversion of private residences into year-round commercial operations was delayed in parliament last month.

Paris has imposed a string of conditions that have cramped the activities of Airbnb and its smaller rivals. Homeowners are restricted to letting their primary residence for a maximum of 120 days a year. Non-resident owners and anyone wanting to rent a property out for more than 120 days must register as a business. Non-resident owners must also convert a commercial property into a residential one to qualify.

The city, however, depends on income from rental visitors and it is relying on Airbnb to help in next summer’s Olympic games. The fat rents that can be charged, up to €10,500 a night for a two-room flat in central Paris, are tempting many residents to think of moving out for the Games.

Paris has been working with Barcelona, Amsterdam and other tourist cities on ways of regulating the business.

Dario Nardella, the mayor of Florence said he wanted to ban short-term lets from the historic city centre entirely, and use tax breaks to encourage more permanent residents.