As the curtain falls on the latest instalment of the ‘Covid Inquiry’ hearings, the public audience is left wondering when and if justice will ever be served. The inquiry, beginning on June 28th, 2022 with an estimating closure in 2027, is a five-year long personality parade of government officials aiming to achieve the discernment of liability, in a public or criminal capacity, for the handling of the pandemic in the UK. The inquiry has so-far made apparent that the reality of modern governance is in its institutional short-sightedness. It has been revealed that the 2010-2023 Conservative government had failed to consider the threat of viruses outside of influenza, failed to implement advice following the 2016 ‘Exercise Alice’ training day, and failed to call to meeting the Pandemic Flu Readiness Board for an entire year in 2019 due to the participants being refocused on planning for a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit. These failures can be attributed in part to the nature of the UK two-party electoral system. No party is willing to invest public funds in long-term schemes for fear of being expelled from government before they can reap the fruits of their labour.
Quick fixes have bene prioritised by legislators in desperate efforts to win the favour of constituents. This fact has been made apparent through the recent ban of American bully XL dogs under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. This issue arose in September of 2023 when an 11-year-old girl was attack by the breed, and by December 31 st new restrictions were placed upon the breed and their owners with the aim of banning ownership without a specified exemption by February 2024. Within the span of four months the government had formulated and passed policy to heed to public pressure, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak highlighting that the breed posed a “danger to our communities” in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter. The law was changed. It can be done quickly and effectively, and yet our National Health Service continues to experience strike action from junior doctors over issues surrounding pay and working conditions that has plagued the service since 2008. The priorities of government are dictated by the catchiness of lectern slogans such as “Ready for Rishi”, with less specificity on policies that would address long-term economic and social problems.
It is exactly this way of ‘doing’ politics which has been revealed and scrutinised during the interview portion of the Covid Inquiry. Boris Johnson’s Covid-era government has been revealed to have been in constant tension with scientists, as chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance admitted that he was not made aware of the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme of Summer 2020. Vallance argued that the scheme was “highly likely” to have led to an increased mortality rate, whereas Sunak argued that all advisors were afforded “ample opportunity” to speak out against the policy. The inquiry is therefore revealing deep divisions within government and between government and external bodies. This toxic culture is further revealed in WhatsApp messages sent by Dominic Cummings, who referred to answering the questions of female colleague Helen MacNamara as being like “dodging stilettos”, and Boris Johnson who wrote that he “no longer [bought] all this NHS overwhelmed stuff”.
Ill-equipped, ill-informed, and illogical would be the summarising sentiments in reference to Johnson’s government after the conclusion of the interview portion of the inquiry in December 2023. Yet the aim of the inquiry is not to facilitate the shifting of blame by individuals like Sunak in an effort to save political face, it is to learn from the failures of government. Professor John Bryson argues that to learn, we need to learn in apt time as the threat of crisis is ever-present, and as the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the UK is not as formidable as previously thought. In this manner, the fact that the inquiry is estimated to last for five years reveals a lack of urgency from the government to adopt the measures necessary to be prepared for the next pandemic.
The Covid Inquiry, itself, is emblematic of a failing system of party politics which has led to the loss of 233,791 British citizens (as of 11/01/2024). This fact is proven true by the recent decision to delay the investigation into vaccine production and roll-out, previously scheduled to commence Summer 2024. The BBC has revealed that the next phase is instead likely to take place after the next General Election. The government is not prepared to take ownership for their actions, especially not before an election that they are currently forecasted to lose. The continuation of gerrymandering priorities to suit political agendas is not a surprise–the UK government is aiming keep the country divided with a portion in support of the Conservatives, instead of admitting fault and risking a united population in opposition to the sitting party in an election year. The Covid Inquiry is currently aiding such tactics. Yet with organisations such as Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice continuing to lobby for results, and opposition party Labour accusing Sunak of being ‘slippery’ regarding the inquiry, it does not appear that the acquisition of justice can be avoided for long.
“Coronavirus (COVID-19) Sheffield, UK” by Tim Dennell is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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The real pandemic is politics
As the curtain falls on the latest instalment of the ‘Covid Inquiry’ hearings, the public audience is left wondering when and if justice will ever be served. The inquiry, beginning on June 28th, 2022 with an estimating closure in 2027, is a five-year long personality parade of government officials aiming to achieve the discernment of liability, in a public or criminal capacity, for the handling of the pandemic in the UK. The inquiry has so-far made apparent that the reality of modern governance is in its institutional short-sightedness. It has been revealed that the 2010-2023 Conservative government had failed to consider the threat of viruses outside of influenza, failed to implement advice following the 2016 ‘Exercise Alice’ training day, and failed to call to meeting the Pandemic Flu Readiness Board for an entire year in 2019 due to the participants being refocused on planning for a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit. These failures can be attributed in part to the nature of the UK two-party electoral system. No party is willing to invest public funds in long-term schemes for fear of being expelled from government before they can reap the fruits of their labour.
Quick fixes have bene prioritised by legislators in desperate efforts to win the favour of constituents. This fact has been made apparent through the recent ban of American bully XL dogs under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. This issue arose in September of 2023 when an 11-year-old girl was attack by the breed, and by December 31 st new restrictions were placed upon the breed and their owners with the aim of banning ownership without a specified exemption by February 2024. Within the span of four months the government had formulated and passed policy to heed to public pressure, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak highlighting that the breed posed a “danger to our communities” in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter. The law was changed. It can be done quickly and effectively, and yet our National Health Service continues to experience strike action from junior doctors over issues surrounding pay and working conditions that has plagued the service since 2008. The priorities of government are dictated by the catchiness of lectern slogans such as “Ready for Rishi”, with less specificity on policies that would address long-term economic and social problems.
It is exactly this way of ‘doing’ politics which has been revealed and scrutinised during the interview portion of the Covid Inquiry. Boris Johnson’s Covid-era government has been revealed to have been in constant tension with scientists, as chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance admitted that he was not made aware of the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme of Summer 2020. Vallance argued that the scheme was “highly likely” to have led to an increased mortality rate, whereas Sunak argued that all advisors were afforded “ample opportunity” to speak out against the policy. The inquiry is therefore revealing deep divisions within government and between government and external bodies. This toxic culture is further revealed in WhatsApp messages sent by Dominic Cummings, who referred to answering the questions of female colleague Helen MacNamara as being like “dodging stilettos”, and Boris Johnson who wrote that he “no longer [bought] all this NHS overwhelmed stuff”.
Ill-equipped, ill-informed, and illogical would be the summarising sentiments in reference to Johnson’s government after the conclusion of the interview portion of the inquiry in December 2023. Yet the aim of the inquiry is not to facilitate the shifting of blame by individuals like Sunak in an effort to save political face, it is to learn from the failures of government. Professor John Bryson argues that to learn, we need to learn in apt time as the threat of crisis is ever-present, and as the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the UK is not as formidable as previously thought. In this manner, the fact that the inquiry is estimated to last for five years reveals a lack of urgency from the government to adopt the measures necessary to be prepared for the next pandemic.
The Covid Inquiry, itself, is emblematic of a failing system of party politics which has led to the loss of 233,791 British citizens (as of 11/01/2024). This fact is proven true by the recent decision to delay the investigation into vaccine production and roll-out, previously scheduled to commence Summer 2024. The BBC has revealed that the next phase is instead likely to take place after the next General Election. The government is not prepared to take ownership for their actions, especially not before an election that they are currently forecasted to lose. The continuation of gerrymandering priorities to suit political agendas is not a surprise–the UK government is aiming keep the country divided with a portion in support of the Conservatives, instead of admitting fault and risking a united population in opposition to the sitting party in an election year. The Covid Inquiry is currently aiding such tactics. Yet with organisations such as Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice continuing to lobby for results, and opposition party Labour accusing Sunak of being ‘slippery’ regarding the inquiry, it does not appear that the acquisition of justice can be avoided for long.
“Coronavirus (COVID-19) Sheffield, UK” by Tim Dennell is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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