No 10 Had 'Worst Ever Governing' During Pandemic

Simon Case, Britain's most senior civil servant, has described the chaos at the heart of Boris Johnson's Downing Street, saying he was not warned in advance about the Covid "eat out to help out" scheme.

- Peter Walker

In often damning testimony, the inquiry into the pandemic heard Case, the cabinet secretary, had said Johnson's No 10 had been involved in "the worst governing ever seen" in Britain. He also sought to defend Johnson's decision-making style, but described a sometimes toxic culture.

In another revelation, Case said he had accidentally deleted nine tranches of group WhatsApp messages while trying to transfer them from his phone. The inquiry obtained them from others in the group.

The inquiry had previously heard that Eat Out to help out, which subsidised people to dine at restaurants and cafes in summer 2020, and has been blamed for a renewed spread of the virus, was announced without the knowledge of the government's two main scientific experts.

Asked if he knew Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty were unaware of the plan, Case replied: "I wasn't aware of eat out to help out until it was announced either." He was then the lead civil servant at No 10, in charge of Covid policy, and weeks away from becoming cabinet secretary.