Will the Covid Inquiry Be the Force that Britain Needs to Do Better?

 by Marinela Pervataj

Britain has been gripped to their screens this week watching dramas and scandals unfold: was it Big Brother? Bake Off? the new Beckhams documentary… Unfortunately, it was not reality TV, but the pure shock that the Covid Inquiry has invoked, an illustration that the handling of the pandemic was far worse than the public could have possibly imagined. 

The Government may have hoped that the AI briefing at Bletchley Park would have been the focus of people’s attention; however, we were once again taken back to 2019 as we learnt of the events that took place behind closed doors during the pandemic. The Covid enquiry should most definitely be a moment for condemnation but also an opportunity to re-evaluate the workings of Whitehall and the Government.

‘Misogyny in the workplace’ is a phrase that is out of place in Britain in 2023 - or, at least, one would have hoped so. However, when messages by Dominic Cummings (special advisor to the PM during the Covid crisis) were read out in the Inquiry there were audible gasps. Helen MacNamara (a top civil servant) was referenced in these messages, but her reaction was not of shock, but rather the sad confirmation that misogyny in Number 10 was commonplace. MacNamara has noted that misogyny was rife in Number 10, that there was a ‘macho and heroic’ tone in the Government’s response to Covid that contributed to the scale of damage caused. Competent and experienced women were shut out of significant discussions and policy decisions and as a result much was overlooked in the Covid response.

Cummings has responded, claiming that the comments were not misogynistic as he would supposedly use this language to address both men and women – there were no notes of remorse, unsurprisingly. Here we encounter the first issue that requires immediate resolution within our Government and thankfully the solution is straightforward: the basic realisation that women are competent individuals and should have been involved in the conversations that dictated much of the policy produced during the Covid pandemic.  Perhaps then single parents would have been better accounted for through the lockdowns, domestic abuse victims would not have been overlooked.

Unsurprisingly, this was not the only issue to arise from the inquiry. A deranged sense of power in Government officials led to individuals putting greater focus on emerging from the pandemic as a hero, rather than working collaboratively to resolve the issue. The pandemic brought out a camaraderie amongst the public that had not been present since war-time Britain; one can only think it a shame that it did not extend to those within the Government. The inside of Number 10 was described to be a ‘bomb site’; however, there was no clear enemy, no meaningful alliances formed that could have pulled the country out of despair. It is likely that the ‘bombs’ were coming from Dominic Cummings who evidently had a wider personal agenda during the entirety of the pandemic, whose huge sense of entitlement felt the need to remove the Prime Minister, entirely undermining the desire of  the electorate. Cummings was plotting to remove Johnson from power soon after the majority win in the 2019 election. The in-fighting was evidently not constructive and it did not just stop in the Government; distrust was a beginning to build between the Civil Service and Cabinet. We can not write these off as petty squabbles – in future it should be evident that the team that works to resolve a national crisis should be united; it should have been a space in ministers and aide could criticise decisions in a constructive manner.

The Covid inquiry is far from being done; more ministers will be questioned, further facts will arise but it is vital that the lives of those lost remain the centre of the enquiry. Those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic have noted that the process of the inquiry has been cathartic – it is a chance for those that ran the country to be held accountable for their actions. And above all a moment to pause and reflect upon a mammoth moment on the country's history. This is most certainly not the last time that the Covid response will be scrutinised. I hope that the inquiry is not just a chance to throw blame but moment to look forward to improvements and refinement to Government responses to further crises.