David Cameron heckled 'shame on you' after defending Tory cuts at Covid Inquiry
David Cameron was heckled by shouts of "shame on you" after he defended austerity measures at the Covid Inquiry this morning.
The former PM was interrogated for more than two hours about how his government prepared - or did not prepare - for a future pandemic where he agreed that public service cuts were the "responsible approach".
But as the Tory austerity chief left the hearing in London, he was asked: "Have you damaged the reputation of the Tory Party?"
Another shouted: "Shame on you."
Unions have warned Mr Cameron and then-Chancellor George Osborne, the architects of austerity, have "serious questions to answer" as the inquiry examines whether the UK was prepared for a pandemic.
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The inquiry heard a witness statement from Mr Osborne, who will be interrogated in person tomorrow, which also attempted to defend the measure - which included cuts to welfare funding and local government spending.
David Cameron was heckled as he left the inquiry after giving evidence (Phil Harris)It said: "A responsible approach to repairing the UK's public finances following the financial crisis was essential.
"I have no doubt that taking these steps to repair the UK's public finances in the years following the financial crisis of 2008/09 has a material and positive effect on the UK's ability to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic."
Mr Cameron said: “If you lose control of your debt and deficit and economy you end up cutting the health service… it was absolutely essential to get the British economy and public finances back to health.”
He was later interrogated by Claire Mitchell KC, who represents families bereaved through Covid.
She asked: "We now know that over 227,000 people died from Covid and we've heard evidence that the UK was not prepared for a pandemic.
"We've heard that after years of underfunding, cuts, inequalities, that this impacted on the scale of the death. In retrospect, do you agree prime minister that it would have been wise for you to plan for the economic impacts of a pandemic?
Mr Cameron was being questioned by barrister Kate Blackwell KC rather than the inquiry's lead counsel Hugo Keith, who has said he knows the former prime minister (PA)"And by that, I mean the furloughs and the business schemes so you had a plan ready made, off the peg, ready to implement so that the government was not left scrambling around and making ad hoc decisions in very fast time... so they could have been focusing on other matters like the pandemic."
Mr Cameron said: "I'm afraid, with great respect, I'm not sure I agree with the premise of the question."
He said the furlough scheme happened "very quickly and very boldly and made an enormous difference" which he said was only possible because "we had the financial capacity to do it".
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He added that without knowing exactly how a pandemic was going to unfold, "planning in advance exactly what your economic responses are going to be is only of limited use".
Ms Mitchell asked whether he accepts that, despite what he thinks about planning, the UK found itself where "essential medical items" including PPE and ventilators were not readily available.
David Cameron was called as a witness for the first phase of the Covid-19 Inquiry, which is examining whether the UK was sufficiently prepared for the pandemic (PA)Mr Cameron again refused to speak about economic preparations but admitted: "Clearly there were problems when the pandemic hit and I think this goes back to identifying the different sorts of pandemic that could hit you and planning for each one."
Responding to the ex-PM's evidence, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Over a decade in charge, the Conservatives failed to train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs, hollowed out the NHS ahead of the pandemic, and patients today are paying the price.
“It’s not that the Conservatives didn’t fix the roof when the sun was shining, they dismantled the roof and ripped up the floorboards.
“The Conservatives still haven't learned their lesson, and still refuse to publish an NHS workforce plan. Labour won’t make the same mistake. We will double medical school places to train 7,500 more doctors and 10,000 more nurses a year, paid for by abolishing non-doms, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again.”
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Tories had "hollowed out the NHS ahead of the pandemic" (Getty Images)Earlier in his evidence, Mr Cameron confessed it was a "mistake" for his government to focus too heavily on preparations for combating a wave of influenza rather than a coronavirus-like pandemic.
The former prime minister told the official Covid-19 inquiry on Monday that "many consequences" followed from the focus on pandemic flu rather than other respiratory illnesses.
He said the time spent focusing on flu during contingency planning was "the thing I keep coming back to" when considering the "horrors of the Covid pandemic".
"I think it was a mistake not to look more at the range of different types of pandemic," Mr Cameron said, giving evidence under oath.
He added: "Much more time was spent on pandemic flu and the dangers of pandemic flu rather than on potential pandemics of other, more respiratory diseases, like Covid turned out to be.
"And you know, I think this is so important because so many consequences follow from that."
He said he had been "wrestling with" the issue, adding: "But that's where I keep coming back to is, so much time was spent on a pandemic influenza and that was seen as the greatest danger - and we had very bad years for flu so it is a big danger ...
"But why wasn't more time and more questions asked about what turned out to be the pandemic that we faced?
"It's very hard to answer why that's the case. And I'm sure this public inquiry is going to spend a lot of time on that."
The first phase of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry is examining whether the UK was sufficiently prepared for the pandemic.
The British Medical Association representing doctors has accused Mr Cameron and his ministers of allowing the NHS to get into a "parlous state".
The inquiry, which started last week, opened with a 17-minute video from bereaved families who told devastating stories of their loss through Covid (TIM ANDERSON)Ahead of the hearing, council chairman Professor Philip Banfield wrote: "I have seen first-hand the damage wrought by years of austerity and a failure to prioritise the nation's health.
"The UK was severely on the back foot when Covid took hold, and this proved disastrous - for the doctors I represent and the millions who suffered at the hands of the virus."
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said that austerity was a "political choice" that left the UK "hugely exposed to the pandemic".
On Tuesday, Mr Osborne and Sir Oliver Letwin will give evidence.
Current Chancellor and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt is due on Wednesday, as is Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden.
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