Publisher Health

At the centre of the UK’s response to Covid-19 was a small cast of politicians and officials tasked with steering the country through the crisis.

But private messages aired during the public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic have laid bare the strained relations between key players – and in some instances, the contempt and animosity.

Here are some of the most eye-catching exchanges we’ve seen.

This article contains language some readers may find offensive.

The inquiry has heard in recent days how then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other key figures inside Downing Street grappled with the size of the challenge facing the government between January and March 2020.

On 2 March, Mr Johnson chaired his first meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to discuss how the government would respond to the rapid spread of Covid-19.

But a day later, Dominic Cummings – the PM’s then chief of staff – said he still didn’t think Mr Johnson was convinced of the severity of the situation.

In a message to No 10 communications director Lee Cain, he said Mr Johnson “doesn’t think it’s a big deal” and “it’ll be like swine flu”, another virus which spread across the world in 2009, killing more than 450 people in the UK but not prompting a major public health crisis.

“His focus is elsewhere,” the PM’s closest aide said of his boss the day after that Cobra meeting.

On 19 March 2020, Mr Cummings was in a meeting with Mr Johnson and then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak. During it, he messaged his frustrations to Mr Cain.

The exchange – which took place four days before the first UK-wide lockdown was announced – lays bare the vitriol Mr Johnson’s closest advisers were privately sharing at the time.

Mr Cummings described the PM as “melting down” during a discussion about how government debt would be financed during the pandemic.

The PM is in “Jaws mode”, Mr Cummings says – a reference to a joke Mr Johnson had previously made about his political hero being the mayor from the film Jaws, who keeps the beaches open despite warnings about shark attacks.

Both say they are “exhausted” with him. They then discuss a tweet from Times journalist Steven Swinford, saying Mr Johnson had sent a “confusing message” at a press conference.

Mr Cummings adds: “It’s only a matter of time before [Mr Johnson’s] babbling exposes fact he doesn’t know what to say.”

The inquiry was shown expletive-laden messages Mr Cummings wrote about Helen MacNamara, who was deputy cabinet secretary at the time.

On 21 August 2020, he said her propriety and ethics “bullshit” was “designed to waste huge amounts of my time”, and said she should be moved from her job.

Mr Cummings said “I’ll personally handcuff her and escort her from the building”, and – using a highly offensive term – refers to dealing with her questions as “dodging stilettos”.

He told the inquiry his language was “appalling” but denied being a misogynist, saying he had been just as brutal about male colleagues, and worked well with other women in government.

In the summer of 2020, the political ramifications of the government’s pandemic measures were being discussed. At the time, there were reports of divisions over the government’s approach.

Mr Cummings urged Mr Johnson to reshuffle his “feral” and “useless” team to prevent political “mayhem”, and to “read them the riot act”. Otherwise, he warned, there could be “talk of leadership challenges”.

In the 23 August messages, he also described then Health Secretary Matt Hancock as a “proven liar who nobody believes”, as well as other language too explicit to publish.

The prospect of him remaining in charge of the NHS during the winter was “hideous”, he added.

Mr Hancock gave evidence to the inquiry in June and has previously denied lying to Mr Johnson.

The inquiry was shown September 2020 messages from a group containing three of the central figures in Downing Street – Mr Cummings, Mr Cain and Simon Case, who that month was appointed cabinet secretary, the country’s most senior civil servant.

With the country through the worst of the first Covid wave but facing a second winter spike, the messages show the strained relationships between key figures at the heart of government.

Mr Cummings described unnamed ministers as “moronic” after one meeting, to full agreement from Mr Case.

Mr Cain characterised discussions as “embarrassing”, and two days later Mr Cummings used a trolley emoji to denote the PM (the nickname “trolley” was used by some in No 10 to describe Mr Johnson, because of his supposed tendency to suddenly change direction on key decisions).

As well as despair at the PM’s approach, there was more criticism for Mr Hancock.

Mr Cain dubbed him a “joker” who “has to go”. Mr Cummings called him a “liar”.

As the second Covid winter wave built, messages appear to show Mr Johnson’s faith was faltering in the ability of lockdowns to control the virus.

On 15 October 2020, Mr Johnson said he was “rocked” by analysis that the average age of those dying was over 80, adding: “That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer.”

The messages were sent one day after the three-tier system of restrictions was rolled out in England.

Mr Johnson goes on to say “I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff”. In other words, the PM seems to have been losing faith in the central argument for lockdown his government had been making for months – namely, that it was necessary to limit the number of cases to a level the health service could cope with.

When Mr Cain asks how his new outlook would change the government’s policy, Mr Johnson says: “It shows we don’t go for nationwide lockdown.”

But on 31 October, just over a fortnight after the exchange, the government did announce another lockdown in England.

Mr Johnson has not responded to the evidence heard in the inquiry so far but is due to give evidence later this year. He is “co-operating fully” with the inquiry, his spokesman said this week.