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Covid inquiry hears more testimony about Johnson’s ‘brutal and useless’ No 10

“It is like taming wild animals. Nothing in my past experience has prepared me for this madness. The PM and the people he chooses to surround himself with are basically feral.”

[Sedwell] “had sought the dismissal of Hancock as health secretary to “save lives and protect the NHS”

“Hancock so far up BJ’s [Boris Johnson’s] arse his ankles are brown.”

Sedwill apologised for suggesting in a meeting in March 2020 that people could hold “chickenpox parties” to spread the virus.

Is this government going to stagger on for another? – Owl

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Mark Sedwill, the UK’s most senior civil servant at the start of Covid, viewed Boris Johnson’s government as “brutal and useless” and did not trust Matt Hancock, then health secretary, to be truthful, the inquiry into the pandemic has been told.

In testimony that shines yet more unforgiving light on Johnson’s Downing Street, Sedwill agreed that the PM had veered wildly in his opinions and seemed unable to manage a team, saying it was his job as cabinet secretary to help “force a decision”.

Sedwill also said he concurred with earlier testimony about Hancock not being routinely honest, saying he would regularly double-check things with others “to make sure he wasn’t over-promising”.

Sedwill, who was Johnson’s cabinet secretary until September 2020 and is now a crossbench peer, did not dispute an August 2020 diary entry by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, quoting Sedwill as saying “this administration is brutal and useless”.

“I can’t actually recall what might have prompted it but … I don’t doubt Sir Patrick’s memory,” Sedwill said.

He also did not dispute earlier evidence from Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, and Lee Cain, his former communications chief, which described the prime minister as poorly suited for the Covid crisis, liable to oscillate between different views, and unable to manage a cohesive team.

Asked by Hugo Keith KC, the inquiry chair, if he agreed, Sedwill said: “I recognise them but I wouldn’t express them that way myself.”

Sedwill said while it was not his job to judge the suitability for office of a democratically elected leader, he had sought to put in place a system to help “force a decision”, one in which cabinet ministers had a voice. He added: “It’s exhausting for the people in his [Johnson’s] inner circle.”

The hearing was shown extracts of messages between Sedwill and his eventual successor as permanent secretary, Simon Case, in which Case, at the time the head civil servant at No 10, wrote: “It is like taming wild animals. Nothing in my past experience has prepared me for this madness. The PM and the people he chooses to surround himself with are basically feral.”

Sedwill said in reply: “I have the bite marks.”

In another message to Case, Sedwill said he had sought the dismissal of Hancock as health secretary to “save lives and protect the NHS”, a play on a Covid-era health slogan which Sedwill called “gallows humour”.

Around the same time, Sedwill said, he spoke to Johnson about Hancock’s role. While his role meant he would not have explicitly told the PM to sack his health secretary, Johnson “would have been under no illusions about what would have been best”, Sedwill added.

In a further message to Case shown to the hearing, Sedwill wrote: “Hancock so far up BJ’s [Boris Johnson’s] arse his ankles are brown.”

Johnson needed reminding to involve cabinet in Covid decisions, says civil service ex-chief – video

Earlier in his evidence, Sedwill apologised for suggesting in a meeting in March 2020 that people could hold “chickenpox parties” to spread the virus so children and others could catch Covid and help the country reach herd immunity.

Sedwill said this was suggested in the context of the plan at the time to try to mitigate the peak of Covid, and that his idea was for people less susceptible to Covid to catch it and acquire immunity while those more vulnerable could quarantine.

He added: “These were private exchanges and I certainly had not expected for this to become public. I understand how, in particular, the interpretation that has been put on it, it must have come across as someone in my role was both heartless and thoughtless about this, and I genuinely am neither. But I do understand the distress that must have caused and I apologise for that.”

Earlier evidence has heard that both Johnson and Cummings viewed Sedwill as being “off the pace” over Covid, and too slow to respond to the scale of the threat.

Asked by Keith if this was true, Sedwill argued it was in part because of his role: “It is possible. It is also possible I might have created that impression. I felt I had to provide leadership for a system that was on the edge of panic then. I did not have the luxury of saying, even in private, ‘We are doomed.’”

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Does Sunak’s focus on Crime, Law & Order mean John Humphreys can forget early release?

In August 2021 John Humphreys was sentenced to 21 years for the historic rape of two underage boys. Under current legislation he might expect to be considered for release after 14 years (⅔ of his time).  

This week’s King’s speech, with its emphasis on crime and law and order (how ironic, Owl) puts this in doubt.

“Last year’s Police, Crime and Courts Act ended automatic early release for all sexual offences that carry a maximum life sentence, including rape and sexual assault of a child aged under 13.

It meant that those given a sentence of four years or more are now required to serve at least two-thirds of it before being considered for release.

But a Government source confirmed that ministers are now considering going further and ending any early release for the most serious sexual criminals.”

Source: Daily Mail

See also this explanatory paper:

King’s Speech 2023: Crime and justice – House of Lords Library 

“On 16 October 2023, Mr Chalk [Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice] announced that legislation would be introduced to ensure convicted rapists and other serious sexual offenders would spend their entire sentence in prison.[32] This would see offenders remaining in prison until the last day of their custodial term. The MoJ has not yet published further details about this proposal.”

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Somerset Council declares financial emergency as it votes through ‘urgent’ measures to close £100m…

Somerset Council declares financial emergency as it votes through ‘urgent’ measures to close £100m budget gap amid fears it will go bust like Birmingham

Sukhmani Sethi www.dailymail.co.uk 

  • The council cited soaring costs of services for the crisis in a meeting on Tuesday

Somerset Council have declared a financial emergency as it voted through ‘urgent’ measures to close a £100m budget gap amid fears that it could go bust like Birmingham. 

The local authority was forced to make the alarming declaration on Tuesday after pointing towards the soaring costs of services, particularly adult social care, which it said was rising faster than the council’s income.

This significant gap in its budget threatens the local authority going bust, with fears that it could mirror the financial disaster faced by Birmingham City Council, which declared it could not afford equal pay claims worth up to £760m. 

Councillor Liz Leyshon, lead member for resources, said that Somerset Council would ideally look to avoid filing a Section 114 notice – the equivalent of bankruptcy for a council –  because it would have to to fork out ‘£1,200 a day each plus expenses’ for government commissioners. 

Ms Leyshon told the meeting the ‘situation is now too serious for us to avoid the word emergency’.

The local authority was forced to make the alarming declaration on Tuesday after pointing towards the soaring costs of services, particularly adult social care (Pictured: Somerset County Hall)

She added: ‘The last thing we want to do is be paying people from outside the county to make decisions for Somerset’.

Following the meeting, which took place in Yeovil, Council leader Bill Revans stated he will  be writing to Michael Gove to make the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities aware of the crisis. 

Councillors agreed to form a financial focus group in order to figure how the local authority can cut costs and avoid a Birmingham-style catastrophe.

The rising cost of adult and children’s social services is at the forefront of the financial challenges that the local authority is looking to tackle with the aid of external consultants. 

Other possibilities that will be considered, with their costs scrutinised, will include a recruitment freeze, selling off the council’s commercial investment properties and pausing many building projects, such as the refurbishment of the Octagon Theatre – a venue used by the Salvation Army for the annual Christmas Carol services.

Councillor Liz Leyshon, lead member for resources, said that Somerset Council would ideally look to avoid filing a Section 114 notice – the equivalent of bankruptcy for a council

On Somerset council’s website, it informs residents: ‘In addition to inflation, which increases the costs of the goods and services the council buys, the council has seen an unprecedented rise in demand for care services for Somerset’s most vulnerable residents. 

‘We are seeing an increase in the number of residents, both adults and children, who need support from the council and with the support needed becoming increasingly complex.

 ‘Funding for these two services has had to increase by £28 million and £19 million respectively, just to support existing demand’. 

For the 2023/24 financial year, the total amount of the Somerset Council charge has increased by an overall five per cent from last year – three percent for general expenditure and two percent for adult social care, 

Further details are expected at the next executive meeting in December, revealing which services face cuts, which council buildings could be sold off and how much more local people can expect to pay in council tax from April. 

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 23 October

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Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid live on TV, inquiry told

Also: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff were “not concerned” about infecting elderly people in care homes until months after the pandemic struck.

Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid live on TV “to show it did not pose a threat”, his former chief of staff in Downing Street told the Covid inquiry.

Archie Mitchell www.independent.co.uk

Lord Edward Udny-Lister told the official probe into the handling of the pandemic that the ex-PM, who spent days in intensive care and almost died from the virus, that the then PM’s suggestion was “an unfortunate comment”. The comments were first reported in 2021 but confirmed by Lord Lister in Tuesday’s evidence.

His comments come as Britain’s top civil servant, Simon Case, said he had “never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country” when he joined Downing Street during the Covid pandemic.

In another day of explosive evidence, messages shown to the inquiry between the former No 10 permanent secretary and then cabinet secretary Lord Sedwill from July 2020 revealed Mr Case thought that his new colleagues were “mad”.

He went on: “Not poisonous towards me (yet), but they are just madly self-defeating,” adding that “top-drawer” staff were refusing to join No 10 because of “the toxic reputation of Boris Johnson’s operation”.

Previous messages shown to the official probe into the handling of the pandemic have revealed a culture of “nastiness, arrogance and misogyny” in Downing Street at the time.

Simon Case said he had ‘never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country’ than in No10  (Supplied)

At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Johnson’s former chief of staff Lord Lister told inquiry chair Baroness Hallett that WhatsApp messages shown as evidence so far were “appalling”.

On yet another shocking day of evidence, the Covid-19 Inquiry heard:

  • Lord Lister confirmed previous reports the PM wanted to “let the bodies pile high” to avoid imposing a second Covid lockdown
  • The former aide also confirmed Mr Johnson offered to be infected himself with Covid on TV to “demonstrate that it did not pose a threat” 
  • Further diary entries from chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance show Mr Johnson was often overruled by then chancellor Rishi Sunak
  • The government’s Covid-19 taskforce was “blindsided” by Mr Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme
  • Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff were “not concerned” about infecting elderly people in care homes until months after the pandemic struck

Lord Lister also confirmed controversial comments by Mr Johnson that he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown. Mr Johnson denied making the comment when the claim first emerged in 2021.

In his witness statement to inquiry, Lord Lister said he recalled Mr Johnson making the comment in September 2020. He said it was unfortunate but was made at a time when ministers were worried about “the already severe impact on the economy and education” from lockdowns.

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce revealed how he was “blindsided” by Mr Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme during the summer of 2020.

Asked by lead counsel Hugo Keith KC what the taskforce’s view was of the scheme, Simon Ridley said it was decided by the prime minister and chancellor and he had no input.

Asked whether he was concerned at not being asked about Eat Out to Help Out, Mr Ridley took a long pause, before saying: “Things happen that surprise.”

But asked whether he was “blindsided by the Treasury and there was nothing you could do”, he responded: “Correct.”

The inquiry also heard how DHSC staff were “not concerned” about discharging elderly people into care homes with Covid until months after the pandemic struck, the official pandemic probe has heard.

The inquiry was also shown an email thread between top No10 and Cabinet Office officials in April 2020, which revealed increasing fears about the spread of the pandemic in hospitals and care settings.

But, when asked by a member of the Covid-19 taskforce, a DHSC director said infections acquired in hospitals and spread into care homes were “not an issue of concern”.

It came as the probe laid bare the chaos surrounding government plans to discharge thousands of patients from hospitals into social care settings to free up capacity in the NHS.

Mr Keith KC pressed Mr Ridley over whether the testing capacity was in place to ensure those discharged were not infected with the virus.

Mr Ridley said there were “limitations” to testing capacity, but said “ultimately there needs to be a decision” and the government was striking a “balance”.

Data from the first wave of the pandemic showed care home residents in England were almost 20 times more likely to die than older people living in their own homes.

The discharge of Covid patients to care homes without testing was later ruled unlawful, with High Court judges finding the policy failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission.

Mr Ridley told the inquiry on Tuesday: “We were, certainly in the Cabinet Office and in No 10 at the end of March and April, concerned to understand the position in care homes.

“I think it is true that those concerns were growing as we went into April.”

Mr Ridley was then asked by Mr Keith whether the Cabinet Office and No 10 had to “push” DHSC on the issue, saying: “Yes, that is broadly correct.”

The inquiry also saw more extracts from former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick’s diaries, revealing his belief that Mr Johnson was often “undone” by his then chancellor.

Sir Patrick noted that Mr Johnson was seen as “owning the reality for a day” before being “buffeted by a discussion with Rishi Sunak”.

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South West Water to reward customers who cut use with lower bills

“The population increases from 3.5 million to an estimated 10 million in the region in the summer.”

“The company said 10% of households in the region have a hot tub.”

Consumers in Cornwall and Devon will be offered cheaper bills in return for cutting their water use as the region struggles to cope with a rise in the number of new residents who work from home.

Alex Lawson www.theguardian.com 

From next year, South West Water (SWW) – which was fined in April for dumping sewage illegally into rivers and the sea – will offer residents new tariffs designed to encourage reducing water use amid concerns about the strain caused by increased numbers of tourists and home workers.

The company, owned by Pennon Group, will trial several new offers, including an “environmental tariff” that will “reflect the higher cost of peak summer demand” but offer discounts over the winter when water is less scarce.

Residents in the south-west were subject to a hosepipe ban that lasted for more than a year and was lifted only in September as reservoirs were replenished. SWW data shows its customers’ household consumption has risen nearly 13%, from 312.4m litres a day in 2019-20 to 352m litres a day in 2022-23.

SWW said the population had swelled by 300,000 over the past 10 years and was expected to grow by a further 530,000 by 2050. “The assumption is this has been driven by retirees or, following the pandemic, those able to work from home all or some of the time,” it said.

The boom in working from home kickstarted by Covid lockdowns brought fresh impetus to a trend for Britons leaving cities in favour of working remotely in the countryside or coastal locations, notably in Devon and Cornwall.

The counties were also popular holiday destinations when UK-based trips dominated the travel industry during the pandemic. However, both trends exacerbated tensions between second homeowners and day trippers, and permanent residents of the south-west.

SWW estimates that the number of second homes is as high as 40% in tourist hotspots, and typically 10% in other coastal areas. It says the population increases from 3.5 million to an estimated 10 million in the region in the summer.

In a recent submission to the regulator Ofwat, Pennon said: “Customers have told us they feel they are paying a premium for the high peak summer demand we experience when visitors come into the area.

Most SWW customers use water meters, rather than paying on fixed tariffs. SWW’s planned “eco tariffs” would reward low consumption levels with discounted tariffs. Those on social tariffs, which offer lower rates for vulnerable customers, will not be included in the trials.

The company said 10% of households in the region have a hot tub, which was another post-pandemic trend. But a spokesperson said it was not currently planning to trial specific tariffs for hot tub owners, although “customers who use more water because they have a hot tub will see higher bills as a result”.

SWW has been one of a number of water companies criticised over its record in polluting England’s waterways and the accurate reporting of leaks. Susan Davy, the chief executive of Pennon Group, gave up her bonus in May in the face of public opprobrium.

Pennon – which also owns Bournemouth Water and Bristol Water – has proposed raising bills from £504 a year in 2025 to £620 in 2030 for SWW customers. The group plans to invest £2.8bn on improvements, including cleaning beaches for swimming and resurrecting plans for the Cheddar Two reservoir.

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Working group to unpick ‘toxic’ 3 Rivers housing debacle 

A new group will try to identify lessons that could be learned following the controversy surrounding a council-owned housing company.

Four Mid Devon councillors will form the group to delve into losses from 3 Rivers Developments to ensure the authority gains knowledge from its foray into the residential property market.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

The council set up and wholly owned 3 Rivers to build houses for sale  in 2017, but decided earlie this year to ‘soft close’ it, preventing it from embarking on new projects but allowing it to complete ongoing schemes in Tiverton ansd Bampton.

Challenging trading conditions in the construction and housing sectors proved problematic for the company, with the firm shutting down projects amid rocketing prices for materials, facing struggles with restricted site availability, and being affected by rising interest rates and their subsequent impact on the housing market.

The company’s latest published accounts at Companies House show that pre-tax losses ballooned to more than £1.9 million in the year to 31 March 2022 compared to a loss of nearly £96,000 the prior year.

It has to published new accounts by 31 December.

Mid Devon District Council’s scrutiny committee tackled the divisive issue this week, with an at-times fractious debate on how to progress.

Councillor Nikki Woollatt (Ind, Cullompton St Andrews) questioned the committee’s chair, Councillor Rachel Gilmour (Lib Dem, Clare & Shuttern), about why some letters had already been sent to people with knowledge of 3 Rivers, seemingly before the entire scrutiny committee had considered them.

“I consider this overstepping your role,” she said.

“When did the committee decide that these letters should be sent? These things are supposed to be decided by the committee.

“I have an issue with the whole agenda item as I don’t think it is clear what is required of us in scrutiny. The wording is a statement with no instruction, and I would have expected us to have to agree and adopt a terms of reference.”

Cllr Woollatt, who is stepping down from the scrutiny committee, added that she was “dismayed” at how possible terms of reference for a ‘lessons-learned’ exercise had been drafted without the committee’s knowledge and that “activities have taken place behind the scenes.”

The council’s chief executive, Stephen Walford, said the draft terms of reference were intended to enable discussion by the scrutiny committee, and were not intended as being set in stone.

“Trying to set the terms of reference with a blank sheet of paper at a scrutiny committee meeting would have been quite challenging, and would have had less structure than now,” he said.

“The draft is a reflection back to you of all the areas of concern that have been discussed previously.”

Mr Walford added that the committee could amend the terms of reference, or the working group could add to it.

Cllr Woollatt proposed that a small working group be set up that could meet more informally and work in a more focused manner before bringing their findings back to the scrutiny committee.

Cllr Gilmour emphasised her preference for a “quick and thorough” process given how long the 3 Rivers issue had dragged on.

“3 Rivers has been hanging around for years and has caused anxiety and there’s been what has been described as a toxic atmosphere,” she said.

“At one point, the Local Government Association had to be brought in to mediate, as councillors couldn’t speak to each other, that’s how bad it was.”

Councillors highlighted the importance of a transparent process to ensure that the council’s integrity was maintained, with some wanting the working group to be made up of members with no formal links to 3 Rivers or previous administrations involved in its creation.

A vote to set up a working group passed by six votes to four, with councillors Andy Cuddy (Lib Dem, Tiverton Lowman), Gordon Czapiewski (Lib Dem, Tiverton Lowman) Rhys Roberts (Cons, Cadbury), and Gill Westcott (Green, Canonsleigh) against.

The working group will report back to the scrutiny committee in December.

A Mid Devon District Council spokesperson said: “The ‘soft close’ process will enable 3 Rivers to finish its two ongoing projects in Tiverton and Bampton and will ensure that all contractors, suppliers and tradesmen are paid in full, and all associated company property warranties will be honoured.”
 

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Boris Johnson called Treasury ‘the pro-death squad’, Covid inquiry told

Incumbent PM made joke about Rishi Sunak’s department because of its focus on lifting restrictions, according to diary entries

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Boris Johnson referred to Rishi Sunak’s Treasury as “the pro-death squad” as he sought to gain support for a gradual end to Covid restrictions, the official inquiry into the pandemic has been told.

The inquiry also saw messages between two senior Downing Street officials complaining that Johnson was too slow to tackle a second wave of the virus, with one saying: “We are so fucked.”

Johnson and others inside No 10 used language that “pejoratively termed as pro-death” the Treasury, then led by Sunak, because of its focus on lifting Covid measures, according to diary entries by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser at the time.

Stuart Glassborow, Johnson’s deputy principal private secretary at the time, a role that involved liaising between No 10 and the Treasury, was questioned about a meeting in January 2021, where Johnson set out his ambitions for the gradual easing of Covid restrictions.

“The PM is on record as saying that he wants tier 3, 1 March; tier 2, 1 April; tier 1, 1 May; and nothing by September, and he ends up by saying the team must bring in ‘the pro-death squad from HMT’,” said the entry, read out by Dermot Keating, a counsel to the inquiry.

Glassborow said of Vallance’s words: “I wouldn’t dispute what he’s recorded, but I don’t recall the phrase at all.”

Glassborow, who spent more than a decade as a civil servant in the Treasury and returned there after leaving No 10, also professed no knowledge of Johnson’s reported view that Covid was “just nature’s way of dealing with old people”, another detail from Vallance’s diary that was revealed last week.

Subsequent evidence on Monday heard that advisers inside No 10 were increasingly worried during early 2020 that ministers were too slow to consider a lockdown, and then became alarmed that autumn that a second wave was not being treated seriously.

Ben Warner, a data scientist brought into No 10 by Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s then-chief adviser, told the inquiry he was worried about “a lack of scientific capability within the different teams and groups that I was working with”.

The inquiry was shown WhatsApp messages during September and October 2020 between Warner and Lee Cain, Johnson’s head of communications, in which they bemoaned Johnson’s decision to not impose a so-called circuit-breaker lockdown, to slow the pace of infections, saying this repeated the errors of spring.

“I feel like we have accidentally invented a time machine,” Warner wrote to Cain. In an earlier message, Cain said: “We are so fucked. Why are we not acting in London and urban areas now? Same errors as March.”

Warner replied: “Agreed. Feel like we are where we knew we would be three/four weeks ago.”

In evidence about decision-making at the start of the pandemic, the inquiry was shown pages from a report on Exercise Nimbus, a February 2020 theoretical planning operation about Covid, which was told that leaving the virus unchecked was “effectively rendering it a ‘survival of the fittest’ situation”.

It also saw a page from a notebook entry Warner made at the same time, in which he wrote: “NHS fucked in any scenario”, something Warner said may either have been his own personal view or a reflection of the wider sentiment among officials.

Another piece of evidence described Johnson and Cummings castigating Mark Sedwill, at the time the cabinet secretary, in mid-March 2020 for being “miles off the pace”, as Johnson termed it, in terms of realising the threat from Covid.

“YOU need to tell Sedwill this,” Cummings told the prime minister in a WhatsApp message on 14 March, a Saturday. “The fucker shd be in the office now.”

Asked about the messages, Warner said: “I agree with that entire message.” Sedwill is scheduled to give evidence on Wednesday.

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The government ignored Covid experts like me because it didn’t value people’s lives

That display of contempt for the public will not be forgotten easily

Professor Stephen Reicher (professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews. He was an adviser to the UK and Scottish Governments concerning the behavioural science of Covid, and a member of Independent Sage)  inews.co.uk

I thought I was now incapable of being surprised by the UK’s response to the pandemic. I was wrong.

Over the last few weeks at the Covid inquiry, and especially this week, we have been exposed to revelation after revelation pointing to the dystopian dysfunctionality at the top of government. We have learned of absence, complacency, denialism, dishonesty, disinterest, division, ignorance, incompetence, lack of preparation and, according to former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara on Wednesday, “an absence of humanity”. But what underlies and unites all this, and more, is a pervasive and persistent culture of contempt. Contempt for each other.

Perhaps the most lurid stories, both in terms of the language and the content, have concerned the views that those in the inner circle had of one another. Boris Johnson was an egotistical fantasist who was out of his depth, a “trolley” who constantly changed direction; Matt Hancock was a vain and competent liar, Carrie Johnson was a spoilt princess, Cabinet ministers were called “useless f***ing pigs” by Johnson’s advisor, Dominic Cummings and Cummings himself was called a “f***ing piece of shit” by a ministerial adviser. To call this government a nest of vipers is unfair to vipers.

There was also contempt for women. Cummings denied that his attacks on Helen MacNamara were misogynistic on the grounds that he was even more foul about men. But this misses the point that his slurs against her were unacceptable and that they articulate a broader culture in which women – irrespective of their performance – were talked over or plain ignored.

If there is one revelation that stands out from all the others, it is that Johnson considered the lives of the elderly as worthless. If there is one sentence to serve as his epitaph it should be the allegation that he said: “Covid is nature’s way of dealing with the elderly”. In recent elections, older cohorts have been more likely to vote Conservative. Perhaps, if they recall Johnson’s words on entering the polling booth, this is less likely to endure into 2024.

From before the first lockdown, it was clear that the government believed the public were incapable of responding appropriately to the pandemic because they were too stupid or too weak – or both. You couldn’t reason with them because they couldn’t cope with too much information; you couldn’t support them because too much support would be misappropriated.

It was a viewpoint articulated in 2021 when Jeremy Hunt (then chairing a parliamentary inquiry) asked Matt Hancock why more support was not given to people to self-isolate when testing Covid positive. Because of the government’s fears that the system would be “gamed”, replied the then health secretary.

The problem here is not only that all these views are deeply distasteful in themselves, but also that they both led to policies (such as blame and punishment) that undermined public confidence and co-operation and also stymied policies (such as dialogue, engagement and support) that would have generated such confidence and co-operation. Contempt, like trust, is reciprocal. If you distrust the public, they will distrust you. By showing such contempt for people, this government has earned our contempt (as consecutive polls and by-election results seem to be showing).

If these views help explain the underlying rationale for a failed Covid response, they also explain a dilemma which scientists, especially those of us involved in the advisory process, have been dealing with for a long time. Why – despite all the rhetoric, did the government repeatedly fail to follow the science?

We considered a complex web of potential factors. Was it that they distrusted and had contempt for us too – especially those of us who spoke out at their more egregious errors? Was it that they failed to understand scientific principles and concepts and that we failed to communicate them clearly?

Was it that we failed to appreciate the detailed constraints on what governments are able to do? Was it that, especially in the case of behavioural science, others interjected their advice and believed that they knew better than a mere bunch of academics? After all, they surely were more versed in effective communication and influence having come out on top in several elections on the trot.

All these factors and more may perhaps be of relevance. But however well they understand, and however highly they rate their scientists, a government will not listen to advice about how to save people’s lives if it does not value those lives in the first place. Sometimes, as we have learnt from the last few days at the Covid inquiry, it really is that simple.

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Police chief still suspended as turbulence hits investigators

Devon and Cornwall’s Crime Commissioner has called for clarity after it emerged that the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland which is leading an inquiry into Chief Constable Will Kerr was itself mired in controversy after a lead investigator quit and police were called to the home of the Ombusdman herself.

Carl Eve www.plymouthherald.co.uk

In July it was revealed that a criminal investigation had been launched on June 16 regarding sexual assault allegations against the former Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable. Mr Kerr strenuously denies the allegations and at the time said: “I recognise and respect the fact that accountability and due process are vital to any investigation, regardless of rank or position. I will continue to co-operate with any investigation. I hope that all matters will be expedited so that they will be concluded without delay.”

The inquiry was launched by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland (PONI) using her ‘own motion’ powers. At the time a PONI spokesperson said “The Ombudsman will also consider the circumstances under which the allegations were investigated by PSNI. The Office has been engaging with the IOPC on cross-jurisdictional issues in recent weeks, as well as with the office of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner. Details concerning the precise nature of the allegations and any early investigative actions remain confidential at this time.”

The spokesperson said it was “not possible to confirm a likely timeframe for its conclusion.”

As a result, on July 26 this year Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner suspended Chief Constable Kerr over misconduct allegations. She, in turn, referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which confirmed it was starting its own investigation.

Last month sister website BelfastLive reported that officers in Northern Ireland had been called to the home of the Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson on September 23, following what was described as a “two-day incident” at the property. Officers who responded reported a woman who presented at the door of the property as appearing to have sustained an injury.

Unable to gain entry through the gates, the officers sought to reassure the woman of their presence but reported that she became “obstructive” and “refused to co-operate” with the uniformed officers.

Another person present at the property was spoken to by officers and they later presented themselves at a nearby police station accompanied by a solicitor. Police later confirmed a man was arrested and later released pending a report to prosecutors. The matter is now being investigated by West Midlands Police.

Earlier this week Belfast papers revealed that Susie Harper, PONI’s director of current investigations, had stood down.

On September 1, 2022 Ms Hernandez announced Mr Kerr as her preferred candidate “following a rigorous selection process” for the post of Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable. He was, at that time, the Deputy Chief Constable of Police Scotland. He was formally appointed on September 21 last year following a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel and officially sworn in on December 29. He is the first chief constable appointed by Ms Hernandez.

In light of the ongoing issues with the PONI, questions arose as to how it might affect the ongoing investigation into Mr Kerr OBE and how it may impose upon the length of time he has been suspended – on full pay – from his duties. The Government noted that in 2020 the annual salary for a Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable was £170,316.

A spokesperson for PONI told PlymouthLive: “We do not anticipate that there will be any delay in our investigation.”

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, told PlymouthLive: “I am awaiting further updates from the Office of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland following recent changes in their organisation and am seeking reassurance that their enquiry remains on track.

“As the Chief Constable remains suspended on full pay any delay or inefficiency in the investigation negatively impacts upon the individuals concerned, Devon & Cornwall Police and the taxpaying public.”

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Ex-MP Neil Parish says murderers are better pals than Tory colleagues 

Now he has found himself in Channel 4’s latest social experiment, where a string of celebrities were “jailed” in a decommissioned nick alongside former offenders to give them a taste of life behind bars.

[Banged Up]

Felicity Cross www.thesun.co.uk (Extract)

…And, perhaps surprisingly, Neil revealed the experience has finally helped him fight his demons over the porn scandal.

He said in an exclusive chat: “I haven’t maintained any friendships within Parliament. Once you become smelly or tainted, you are avoided.

“Politics is very superficial. It is a very ambitious place and, once you are out of the way, it is just another office door open.

“I probably admire a lot of the reformed criminals more than my former colleagues — I think they are more loyal…..

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Almost all UK councils have not spent total share of levelling-up fund

Consequences of over centralised control of levelling-up funds. – Owl

A multibillion pound fund designed to boost levelling up and replace crucial EU funding is being left unspent by the vast majority of councils, the Observer can disclose.

The main reasons for a significant underspend in the shared prosperity fund were money being handed over too late to spend, a lengthy and bureaucratic process and a hollowing-out of council expertise.

Michael Savage 

The fund, a central pillar of the government’s efforts to boost the most deprived areas of the UK, is designed to provide £2.6bn by 2025. Ministers said it would “reduce the levels of bureaucracy and funding spent on administration when compared with EU funds” and “enable truly local decision making”.

However, new data uncovered using the Freedom of Information Act reveals that 95% of the local authorities that received funding in 2022-23 were unable to spend all of their share. Across the UK, 43% of £429m in funding was not spent. Not a single council in the north of England, Scotland or Wales spent its full investment.

The findings will raise questions over whether the new post-Brexit system is streamlining funding and handing power to communities in the way ministers promised when the fund was launched last year.

The unspent money has been rolled over into this year. However Jack Shaw, affiliate researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University, who uncovered the data, said there was a “big risk” of the mistakes that were leaving councils unable to spend the cash would simply be repeated with an even bigger potavailable this financial year.

He said the main reason authorities were unable to spend their allocations in 2022-23 was because the government gave them less than two months, instead of 12 months. Shaw warned that with significant underspends likely at the end of the programme, money could be recouped and allocated elsewhere across Whitehall. “The issue is not the size of the funding pot per se, but the rules attached to it and the failure to get it out on time,” he said. “Authorities will now have to spend nearly three times more than they were able to allocate in 2022-23 – which raises questions about their capacity and capability to do so, given the reductions in staffing in recent years.

“It’s clear that whoever wins the next election will need to prioritise public services and, in particular, rebuild local capacity.”

His research found that of the 235 groups responsible for taking forward the shared prosperity fund, 223 of them had to request additional time to spend their investment. Only 12 authorities spent their investment in full, including Slough and Woking councils, which have both issued bankruptcy notices.

Shaw and others are calling for the system to be simplified and speeded up, to give councils a fighting chance of actually spending money allocated to improve poorer neighbourhoods.

Professor Graeme Atherton, head of the Centre for Inequality and Levelling Up at West London University, said: “Part of the problem is that funding was reduced and distributed rather differently. As has happened with all the levelling-up fund, there are more strings attached than initially appear.

“You have to submit a plan – and the plan doesn’t necessarily fit with local need. Also, the areas that had a lot of the funding had it cut. Once you cut money, it’s then hard to rebalance it. It’s not as straightforward as saying, we’ll just reduce the cost of everything. You’ve really got to start again.

“And then there are capacity issues. Those who have been tasked with spending this money at local authority level are very strapped for capacity. What they need is core funding. They’re being asked to spend other ring-fenced funding and it’s difficult to do so.”

The government has earmarked more than £10bn to programmes related to levelling up – the towns fund, levelling-up fund and the UK shared prosperity fund. Experts said all were behind schedule when compared to their original plans.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said the shared prosperity fund offers each local authority the freedom to spend money on their own priorities. “The majority of local authorities were notified of 2023/24 payment by 6 July 2023 and were paid shortly thereafter.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “The Tories’ version of levelling up is a sham and scam. They have hollowed out local government and tied the hands of local leaders so much-needed funding cannot be spent. Labour will oversee the biggest transfer of power from Westminster in British political history and build local capacity outside of Whitehall, so where powers and funding are transferred, they are made the most of.”

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SEATON / TEIGNMOUTH: SAVE DEVON’S COMMUNITY HOSPITALS – latest

Following last Friday’s huge public meeting, Seaton Hospital campaigners are taking their demand to save the threatened wing to the Devon Health & Adult Care Scrutiny Committee at 10.30 this Thursday, where they will hold a joint protest with campaigners for Teignmouth Hospital. Recommendations from a Task Group on the Teignmouth closure, including a proposal to refer it to the Secretary of State, will be before the Committee, and the Seaton closure has been added to the agenda. 

Campaigners from both towns will address the Committee. They include Martin Shaw and Jack Rowland (both of the newly formed Seaton Hospital Steering Committee), and Cllr Chris Clarance (Chair of Teignbridge District Council) and Viv Wilson for Teignbridge.

  • There will be a SEATON / TEIGNMOUTH: SAVE DEVON’S COMMUNITY HOSPITALS protest outside County Hall from 9.30 to 10.15, when campaigners will go into the public gallery.

Contact: Martin Shaw (Seaton) 07972 760254, Geralyn Arthurs (Teignmouth) 07592 357535.

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Three Rivers Development – Inquiry into disastrous Devon firm sparks controversy

An inquiry into Mid Devon District Council’s failed property development company has sparked a controversy among former council leaders.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

Three Rivers Development Ltd (3RDL), which was set up in 2017 to build “high quality” homes and generate profit for the council, will stop trading after accumulating a debt of more than £21 million.

The council’s cabinet, led by the Liberal Democrats, voted unanimously to recommend that the full council agree to stop trading with 3RDL. The council has also decided to investigate the reasons behind the company’s demise and learn from the past.

However, some former leaders of the council have slammed the inquiry as a “no blame” exercise they say ignores the facts and tries to censor their views. They have accused the chief executive Stephen Walford and the district solicitor of interfering with the scrutiny process and undermining the chair of the scrutiny committee.

In a letter to those involved in the company since 2017, Mr Walford asked them to answer a series of questions that he said would inform a reflective piece on learning lessons for the future. He also said that the district solicitor would review all information provided to ensure it meets the standards of accuracy and integrity.

In his letter on October 10, Mr Walford said: “While there are numerous internal and external reports, both advisory and audit, that record the events of the time, the council is hoping to reflect on the events of the past in order to learn and ensure decision-making in future that is informed by the learning from previous experiences.

“To that end, the chairman would be pleased to receive any written responses you might have to the questions as set out below, in order that it might inform a reflective piece on learning lessons for the future.

“To provide you with some reassurance, it is well understood that the administrative realities were perhaps not the most conducive to providing consistency or indeed the stability needed for a business to flourish. Similarly, the impacts of the pandemic are well documented in the council’s financial monitoring reports of the time, and the current administration has no doubt that the council’s attention was at times concentrated on the national emergency response among many other things.

“This is not about seeking to pinpoint a single or specific decision that could or should have been made differently, or to find fault with any of the thinking at the time. However, the scrutiny committee remains keen to consider any learning points and to that end would be interested to hear from former councillors who lived the journey of that time in order to understand from them their views.”

A series of bullet point questions are then listed with responses open until October 27.

Mr Walford concludes: “Unfortunately, there have been a number of inaccurate or mistaken statements made about this subject in the media of late. Therefore can I highlight that the District Solicitor will be reviewing all information provided in order to ensure it meets the standards of accuracy and integrity that befits the worthiness of the scrutiny committee’s consideration.”

Barry Warren, a former leader of the council and a member of the scrutiny committee, said that he was concerned about the timing and the content of the letter, which he received two days after it was dated.

He said that the letter was not based on any terms of reference and that it diverted attention away from crucial facts such as officer advice and creative accounting figures.

Another former leader, Bob Deed, also criticised Mr Walford’s letter as an attempt to undermine Cllr Gilmour’s attempt to gain a greater understanding of the issues. He said that Mr Walford had taken over the garnering of responses, no doubt with removal of any comment of embarrassment to any officer.

He said: “This is not an inquiry.”

He also posed some questions that he said would assist in understanding the 3RDL predicament, such as whether 3RDL was a vanity project borne out of a desire to move on a senior manager, whether the section 151 officer had a conflict of interest as a director of 3RDL, and whether the current administration had abandoned their good intentions to deal quickly, efficiently and effectively with 3RDL.

He said: “The saying goes that ‘you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time’. It is simpler than that – two people think that they can fool every other living soul all the time. They can’t and don’t. You have received plenty of good advice from many councillors on 3RDL over the last 6/7 years. If you have any problems now, you have only yourself to blame.”

Mid Devon District Council did not wish to comment further.

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Saving Seaton HOSPITAL – Update on 3 Nov meeting

Martin Shaw

There were queues across the car park, people standing everywhere, some looking in through the windows, others unfortunately having to turn away. It was twice the size of the meeting in the same hall in March 2017 after they stole the hospital’s beds, and probably even bigger than one in Seaton Town Hall in late 2016 when bed cuts were first proposed.

We had fantastic contributions from all our speakers, especially Dr Mark Welland of the League of Friends (above) and Richard Foord MP, and also from around 20 people from the floor. There was complete unity on the need to save the hospital wing for use by the League, Re:store and other local groups promoting health and wellbeing (for example, for a palliative care service), and for this to be done by renting or even buying the wing – as long as this is at minimal cost, since the local community paid in full for building the wing in the first place.

We unanimously established a Seaton Hospital Steering Committee to fully represent the local community in all matters relating to the future of the hospital. As organiser of the meeting and de facto acting secretary for the committee, I will write to the ICB and NHS Property Services, who declined to attend, to inform them of its outcome.

Decisions

1. It was agreed to ask all supporters to write to Dr Sarah Wollaston, the chair of the ICB, to support our case (she is the former MP for Totnes and former Chair of the Health Select Committee).

Email her at d-icb.corporateservices@nhs.net or write to Dr Sarah Wollaston, Chair, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, County Hall, EXETER EX2 4QD. Mark your letter ‘for the personal attention of Dr Wollaston’ & also ‘please circulate to all members of the Board’. [Board members can be found here – Makes interesting reading – Owl]

2. There will be a protest outside Health Scrutiny at County Hall on Thursday 9 November, 9.30-10.30. We will be joining with Teignmouth whose hospital is also being discussed at Scrutiny. The meeting starts at 10.30 and we will then all go inside, where Jack Rowland and I will be presenting the Seaton case at the beginning of the meeting (you don’t necessarily have to stay for their discussion which may be quite a bit later). WE NEED TO ORGANISE CARS & PLACARDS (HOME-MADE WILL BE FINE).

3. We are planning a day of action on Saturday 18 November. The current proposal is to leaflet and collect signatures for a petition in the centre of Seaton (outside Tesco and/or Aldi?), Colyton, Beer etc., but WE NEED YOUR IDEAS.

There will be an ORGANISING MEETING for these actions from 4.15-5.45 on Monday 6 November in the Old Picture House, Harbour Rd, Seaton. 

Please come along if you would like to help – LET ME KNOW by email (saveseatonhospital@gmail.com) so that we have an idea of numbers. Also let me know if you’d like to help on either 9th or 18th but can’t make it on Monday.

Also follow the campaign on: Seaton & Colyton Matters blog

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Torridge concerned that SWW is complacent about housing

South West Water is being asked to justify its “bland” responses on planning applications, given the rise in sewage spills in Devon’s river and coastal waters.

Alison Stephenson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Torridge District Council wants the company to be removed from the list of consultees and an independent organisation to oversee new developments.

And it plans to ask other councils in Devon to support its request to government.

In his motion to council, Cllr Peter Christie (Green, Bideford North) said he is fed up with SWW’s response of “has no objection” when it is asked to give a view on new plans.

“Over the last decade, this is the answer we get, with very few exceptions.

“Clearly, given the current state of our rivers and coastal waters there is a major problem – and it appears to be overlooked that SWW have a vested interest in more development as it means more customers locked into paying them, as water and sewage services are a monopoly service.”

He told the council that according to SWW’s website, in Bideford last year there were 24 sewage spills, 31 in Buckleigh, 144 in Abbotsham, 117 at Weare Giffard and 25 in Torrington.

“South West Water will take the money for every new house but are not doing what they should be doing in tackling the infrastructure.”

He said in the late 1970s and 80s a ‘sewage embargo’  was placed on Bideford and house building stopped for several years because the town’s infrastructure couldn’t cope.

“Nothing has really changed, they cannot cope with the sewage capacity and water availability is also an issue when we have a drought.”

Cllr Annie Brenton (Lab, Bideford West) said there is a large new development under construction in Bideford beyond Atlantic Village and the council needs to be “really careful and scrupulous” about planning details for drains and sewerage.

“At the moment, South West Water’s behaviour is scandalous. They don’t carry out their legal responsibilities. They are continually breaking the law. They prevaricate and fob you off. We really need to make sure we have an independent, honest assessment of our sewage needs in this area. We need somebody with integrity where profit is not the sole consideration.

“The welfare of our people and our rivers and our sea is just as important as making money.”

Cllr Simon Newcombe (Con, Winkleigh) said independent was “all very good” but if it was not legally enforceable it was not worth the money spent on it.

Cllr David Brenton (Lab, Bideford South) said: “We should be getting Ofwat here. They are supposed to be the ones that are regulating and monitoring this, but they don’t.

“They have the teeth, but they don’t use them. It’s a quango of course, we know how loaded they are, but we need to get them here and ask them ‘what are you doing about the spills in our rivers and seas’.”

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Tory big beast Ken Clarke praises Rachel Reeves’ ‘responsible’ economics in Labour coup

Tory big beast Ken Clarke has thrown his weight behind Rachel Reeves, praising her “responsible” approach to public finances.

Archie Mitchell www.independent.co.uk

In the latest significant boost for the Labour shadow chancellor, Lord Clarke, who served as chancellor under John Major and was health secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government, said he had been impressed by Ms Reeves.

But, stopping short of full backing for Labour, he said: “It’s her party that worries me”. Lord Clarke added: “If it was Jeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves, then I don’t think either of the parties would worry me very much.”

It comes just weeks after the former governor of the Bank of England endorsed the Labour Party in a major coup for Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow chancellor. Mark Carney said it was “beyond time” for Ms Reeves to run the economy in a Labour government.

Mr Carney, the 58-year-old who was handpicked by former Tory chancellor George Osborne to be governor, stunned the Labour conference last month with a video address saying: “Rachel Reeves is a serious economist. She began her career at the Bank of England, so she understands the big picture. But, crucially, she understands the economics of work, of place and family. It is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action.”

Both endorsements come as major donors and business leaders have returned to the Labour fold under Sir Keir and Ms Reeves, having shunned the party under former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Speaking to the i newspaper’s Labour’s Plan For Power podcast about Ms Reeves and Mr Hunt, Lord Clarke said: “I don’t think they disagree on very much. They do, of course, politically, I do myself disagree with some of Rachel’s political views, I’m sure.

“But her actual approach, a responsible approach to macroeconomic policy, matches the responsible approach to macroeconomic policy that Jeremy Hunt has which, in the present shambles of British and international politics and the dangers of it, I find rather reassuring – about the only thing I do find reassuring about this election that’s coming up.”

Lord Clarke also warned she would face “a lot of tough, unpopular decisions” if Labour wins power, because “we’re not going to get out of our present financial crisis for at least two or three years”.

Labour grandee Lord Mandelson also threw his weight behind Ms Reeves, saying: “She’s even tougher than I thought she was. I mean, I knew she would be a bit of an old boot, but I didn’t realise that she’d be quite as uncompromising in the way in which she develops policy, sees off her detractors and deals with her colleagues on some occasions too.”

And elsewhere in the podcast, Lord Clarke said Tory demands for tax cuts and a cabinet reshuffle are “daft” and “neither of them will do any good in the sense of winning votes”.

The former chancellor said it was “absurd” to suggest a reshuffle of his top team could turn Rishi Sunak’s fortunes around.