Covid Inquiry latest - Rishi Sunak denies calling poorer parents 'freeloaders'

All the key moments from Rishi Sunak's Covid Inquiry evidence

Forgetful Rishi Sunak says he cannot remember more than 20 times in Covid Inquiry grilling

The PM appeared rattled as he faced six hours of questions at the Covid Inquiry about his role as Chancellor during the pandemic.

Rishi Sunak, who normally prides himself on being a details man, repeatedly said he could not remember key meetings, emails and conversations.

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All the scandals and sackings from Rishi Sunak's first 100 days in No10

Bereaved families say the PM may not remember key moments but the public does

Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK says "over and over again Rishi Sunak claimed he could 'not recall' key moments from his time as Chancellor.

"The public does, though... [He is] a public health hazard and for the sake of our safety, he must resign".

Covid Inquiry wraps up for the day

Rishi Sunak has concluded his evidence to the Covid Inquiry today.

This module is now coming to end - with only evidence from core participants to come this week.

Rishi Sunak challenged over sick pay and self isolation gpayments

Rishi Sunak claims he can't remember details of talks on free school meals policy

Treasury acted 'for England' not rest of UK, says Drakeford

Sunak denies calling free school meal parents 'freeloaders'

Rishi Sunak was asked about a diary entry from Sir Patrick Vallance, which apparently dismissed the parents of children on free school meals as "freeloaders".

The extract was about a meeting involving him and the Chief Whip following Man Utd star Marcus Rashford's campaign to end holiday hunger. According to Sir Patrick, someone at the meeting said: “Good working people pay for their children to eat and we don’t want freeloaders.”

Asked he had made those comments, Mr Sunak said: "I did not say those words, I do not recollect anyone saying those words."

Rishi Sunak says 'unfair' to describe Treasury as 'pro-death squad'

Rishi Sunak rejects Boris Johnson's characterisation of the Treasury as a "pro-death squad" due to resistance to lockdown measures.

He says it is unfair to describe the Treasury in these terms, who worked "extremely hard" throughout the period and saved people's livelihoods.

Asked if he was aware of it, he says "I wasn't and I do not think it is a fair characterisation on the incredibly hardworking people that I was lucky to be supported by at the Treasury."

The nickname was revealed in an extract from Sir Patrick Vallance's diary shown to the Inquiry.

Dame Angela McLean, who is now the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser, referred to him as "Dr Death the Chancellor" in a WhatsApp exchange also shown to the probe.

Eat Out to Help Out was 'always meant to be temporary'

Inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC asks why the controversial Eat Out to Help Out scheme was not extended beyond August 31 2020.

Matt Hancock previously told the Inquiry that he had warned the Treasury that the scheme - which has been credited with driving up infections ahead of the second wave - was causing issues.

Rishi Sunak replied that the scheme was "always meant to be temporary" and "credibly temporary, because otherwise you don't elicit the response you need".

(PA)

He contradicted Matt Hancock's claim that he warned the Treasury about it. "I have no recollection of him raising that nor do I have any record of him doing so with me at the time," Mr Sunak said.

"But I do know he has said that there has been undue focus on this one item in his evidence to the inquiry."

Why does Rishi Sunak wear a red bracelet on his wrist?

Rishi Sunak is giving evidence at the Covid Inquiry where he is being asked about his time as Chancellor, including his controversial Eat Out To Help Out scheme.

But some eagle-eyed TV viewers are asking questions about the bracelet on his wrist. If you look carefully you can see the item made from red thread.

Read more here.

Eat Out To Help Out was 'right thing to do', insists Sunak

Rishi Sunak has said many hospitality jobs would have been put at risk with “devastating consequences” if his Eat Out To Help Out scheme hadn't been introduced.

The PM has insisted the half price meals plan in August 2020 was “the right thing to do” following warnings it helped the virus spread. "In order to safeguard the jobs of 2million people working in the sector, you need people to go and use those businesses," he said.

Mr Sunak dismissed criticism that Government scientists were not consulted before the plan was announced. “I wouldn’t have discussed the VAT cut, or the stamp duty cut…,” he told the Covid Inquiry as he insisted it was not abnormal to involve them in discussions on Treasury policy.

(BBC)

The former Chancellor argued that top scientists including Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty didn’t raise concerns about the idea in the weeks after it was announced.

"They had ample opportunity to raise those concerns between the announcement of the scheme and its implementation, none of them chose to do so in any form that they were in. I think all of them have said on the record... that this was in way no shape or form responsible for a second wave," he added.

Five things we have learnt so far

As the Covid Inquiry takes a break for lunch, here are five things we have learnt so far from today’s hearing.

• Rishi Sunak said it was “important that we learn lessons” as he issued an apology to families who lost loved ones.

• Mr Sunak claimed not to be a “prolific” WhatsApp user as he blamed changing mobile phone for losing all of his messages.

• The former Chancellor said he saw Boris Johnson “probably more than I saw my own wife” during the pandemic.

• He insisted it was a “good thing” that ministers had “vigorous debate” about lockdown decisions as they were “incredibly consequential”.

• But he repeatedly said he could not remember the details of meetings, emails and conversations when questioned on how restrictions were introduced.

Rishi Sunak says he pushed for schools to reopen before hospitality in 2020

Rishi Sunak said he pushed for schools to be reopened before hospitality as lockdown restricitions were lifted in summer 2020.

He says the priority was non-essential retail "for jobs" then schools and then hospitality. He says he was pushing for schools, particularly early years, to reopen.

The Inquiry looks at a memo from his staff at the time which shows this order.

Hugo Keith KC is clearly moving towards the Eat Out to Help Scheme - which is one of the more controversial things Mr Sunak was involved with.

Rishi Sunak challenged over email showing fears his ideas would be 'watered down'

Rishi Sunak says there was 'extreme anxiety' in the Treasury in run up to first lockdown

The Inquiry has resumed and questions haver turned to discussions around the first lockdown.

Rishi Sunak says there was "enormous anxiety" in the Treasury over a failed gilt auction the day before the first lockdown was imposed in March 2020 - which meant that other countries wouldn't buy the UK debt. This is very rare and effectively shows that trust in the UK's economy was plummeting.

Asked if this impacted on the decisions taken, he says that is a question for Boris Johnson but says this shows why it was such a difficult job.

Covid Inquiry holds a short break

The Inquiry has risen for a quick break.

Sunak defends Boris Johnson's indecision as email shows fears decisions could be 'unpicked'

Emails from October show an aide warning that a decision could "unwind/be unpicked" at the last minute under Boris Johnson's leadership.

The ex-PM's indecisiveness been a recurring theme in the evidence so far. Dominic Cummings famously compared him to a shopping trolley, crashing from side to side. But more neutral officials have expressed concern at some of the flip-flopping.

Rishi Sunak squirms when challenged over Spectator article

Hugo Keith KC challenges Rishi Sunak over an interview with the Spectator in August 2022, where he painted himself as a prominent lockdown sceptic.

Mr Keith asks him why the piece said he had tried not to leave a paper trail of what he told Boris Johnson during the pandemic - something Mr Sunak now denies. He says he did write to him about key matters but they would have had less formal conversations.

He says not all conversations can be recorded, as the pair could have spoken in the corridors of No10 or in the Downing Street garden where they both lived at the time.

He says what mattered was that decisions were recorded.

Mr Sunak also wavers on his own claims in the article that no one was "allowed to talk about the trade-offs" of restrictions - such as the impact on the economy.

Asked if he agreed that the Treasury "took every opportunity" to explain economic harm to the PM, he replies "yes".

You can read the Spectator article here.

Rishi Sunak says he wasn't shut out decisions and saw Boris Johnson 'more than his own wife'

Rishi Sunak defends Boris Johnson's decision-making process during the pandemic - saying he was able to make arguments to the-then Prime Minister.

He says he does not feel he was shut out of key conversations. He says he saw the PM more than he saw his wife during this period.

He says he doesn't believe Cabinet was sidelined and he was always able to give the PM advice. He admits the early weeks of the pandemic were very difficult but it worked better once the Covid taskforce was set up.

His comments come after other witnesses painted a picture of dysfunction and chaos in No10. Ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Inquiry that Dominic Cummings tried to shut him out of meetings. Messages shown to the Inquiry back this up.

Rishi Sunak doesn't have missing messages from key period - but claims he wasn't a 'prolific' WhatsApp user

Rishi Sunak begins his Covid Inquiry evidence with an apology

Rishi Sunak has been sworn in at the Covid Inquiry where he will give evidence under oath today.

He begins with an apology to all those who suffered and lost loved ones during the pandemic and said it had weighed on him heavily in recent years.

The PM says he looks forward to giving evidence in a spirit of “constructive candour”.

Sunak 'blocked plans to give low paid workers financial support to isolate'

There have been claims Mr Sunak blocked plans to give low paid workers financial support if they needed to isolate - despite warnings it was necessary to stop Covid spreading The Covid Inquiry heard in October that ministers were told they should provide cash to make it financially viable for those on low incomes to isolate if they’d come into contact with people who tested positive.

But in his diary, Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance revealed that Mr Sunak rejected the idea. In an entry in September 2020, he wrote: “CX (Chancellor) blocking all notion of paying to get people to isolate despite all the evidence that this will be needed.” A belated scheme did pay a £500 lump sum - but critics say it was "poorly administered, unfunded and hard to access" while two-thirds of people were turned down.

Inquiry couldn't come at a worse time for PM as his authority crumbles

The Prime Minister couldn't be testifying at a worst time, with his grip on power in peril. Keir Starmer has warned the Tories' ability to govern the country has "collapsed" as the PM struggles to contain a growing civil war.

With mounting doubts over the PM's future in No10 and whispers of Tory MPs submitting no confidence letters, the embattled PM faces a perilous week with an interrogation at the Covid Inquiry on Monday and a crunch Rwanda vote on Tuesday.

But the Labour leader Mr Starmer told The Mirror: “The Tories no longer stand for anything and their ability to govern has collapsed. "While they look inward and battle to save themselves, Labour is focused on the pound in your pocket, and the future of our country. We are back in the service of working people."

Mr Starmer said while the "Tory circus of division and performance politics is great fodder for cartoonists", factional wars and the Rwanda "gimmick" won't do anything to help people suffering with food prices and energy bills.

He added: "There is no point in a government that doesn't have solutions for families working all hours to make ends meet, for parents wondering what options their kids have, for victims of crime waiting years for justice, or for nurses working all hours in an overburdened NHS. My changed Labour Party won't let the Tories take the country down with them. We're ready to give Britain its future back."

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(Getty Images)

Most voters don't believe PM's WhatsApp explanation, poll shows

Here's some polling that will make tough reading for the Prime Minister.

When questioned about Rishi Sunak’s claim that he couldn’t hand over his WhatsApp messages because he had changed his phone, nearly 6 out of 10 (59%) people said they did not believe the Prime Minister’s story, instead believing he “is covering up his messages”.

Conservative voters were almost as likely not to trust Mr Sunak’s explanation - 48% believe he covered up the messages. In all of the ‘red wall’ areas over 50% of voters do not believe the Prime Minister.

Just 17% agreed with Rishi Sunak’s explanation that he had lost the messages unintentionally (10% believe there is “another explanation” while 13% don’t know). Asked how confident they would feel in a government, led by Rishi Sunak, doing a “good job” of responding to another pandemic, voters were more than twice as likely to say they lacked confidence than that they felt confident.

That was according to a poll by campaign groups 38 Degrees and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice based on responses from more than 1,000 voters.

Matthew McGregor, CEO, at 38 Degrees, said: “Whatever the truth about Rishi Sunak’s WhatsApp messages, the fact that the majority of the British public don’t trust the Prime Minister to be honest about his actions during a national crisis demonstrates a clear failure in leadership."

Rishi Sunak 'saved the economy' claims Grant Shapps

Rishi Sunak "saved the economy" during the pandemic, Cabinet minister Grant Shapps has said.

The Defence Secretary spoke up for the PM ahead of what is expected to be a difficult day of questioning. Mr Shapps told GB News: "It's so easy in hindsight to look at all these things with 20/20 vision and say 'Ah, if only you had done X at Y moment in time'.

"The fact of the matter is Rishi Sunak, during Covid, saved millions of jobs in this country through the furlough programme and saved millions of businesses as well, with huge amounts of support - over £400 billion."

Mr Shapps added: "I think we should actually remember that he was the guy who saved the economy, an economy which - against all the expectations previously - has actually grown this year as a result of the decisions he made not to allow businesses and jobs to go."

Rishi Sunak arrives more than 90 minutes early

Rishi Sunak has been pictured arriving at the Inquiry - nearly 90 minutes early. The Prime Minister is up from 10.30am and is set to be grilled all day.

A journalist could be heard shouting: "Did you ignore advice over Covid?"

It comes as a Tory rebellion threatens to boil over a short distance away in Westminster, which MPs mulling over his new Rwanda legislation.

(PA)

Six questions the Prime Minister must answer

The Prime Minister faces tough questions over whether he ignored scientific advice during the pandemic.

Mr Sunak was branded "Dr Death" amid questions over whether his Eat Out To Help Out scheme caused Covid cases to rocket.

He is also expected to be grilled over an alleged comment inb which he is claimed to have said "just let people die". And he will be probed over his missing WhatsApp messages.

The Mirror's Ashley Cowburn has done a helpful list on the things we hope to learn from today's testimony.

Click here for the full story

Questions over Rishi Sunak's missing WhatsApps

Mr Sunak is llikely to face questions over his WhatsApp messages - or lack of them.

He has reportedly told the inquiry that "having changed my phone a number of times over the last three years" he no longer has access.

Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “If Johnson and Sunak don’t provide the inquiry with the messages it has asked for, they need to face the full force of the law.

“The lengths they are going to to cover up these WhatsApps … are absolutely obscene. If half as much effort was put into learning from the mishandling of the pandemic as has been put into hiding critical evidence from the inquiry, we would be in a better position when the next pandemic comes.”

PM was branded 'Dr Death' by top scientist, messages show

The former Chancellor's infamous £840million Eat Out to Help Out scheme has been repeatedly blamed by scientists for a surge in Covid cases. The policy, which was branded "eat out to help the virus" by the former Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty, has been the source of much criticism at the Covid Inquiry.

Dame Angela McLean, who was Chief Scientific Adviser at the Ministry of Defence during the crisis, also described Mr Sunak as "Dr Death" in an apparent reference to the scheme. Expect the PM to be grilled toda on whether he consulted scientists and alarming claims members of the government's Covid taskforce were "blindsided" over the policy.

In a chilling extract from the former Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance's diary it is claimed Mr Sunak believed ministers should "just let people die and that's okay". It came amid a tense debate in Government in October 2020 as pressure mounted over the need for a second national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid.

In his diary extract Sir Patrick wrote that "DC" - the former No10 chief adviser Dominic Cummings - "says 'Rishi thinks just let people die and that's okay'". Mr Sunak denied using the words when he was quizzed on the claim in the Commons - but expect him to be grilled over his opposition to a second lockdown.

(PA)