Boris Johnson and team labelled feral, brutal and useless at Covid inquiry

In yet another day of damning revelations at the Covid-19 inquiry, Britain’s top civil servant at the start of the pandemic lifted the lid on the “feral” atmosphere in Downing Street that led to him calling for Matt Hancock to be sacked.

But Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary, denied his own tenure had been a failure for his inability to curb the worst aspects of Boris Johnson’s “brutal and useless” premiership.

Sedwill was a key player in implementing the first national lockdown and also held the posts of head of the civil service and national security adviser between 2018 and 2020.

His appearance at the inquiry, combined with WhatsApps and other evidence shown today, further highlighted the dysfunction at the heart of government when Covid hit.

In messages exchanged in June 2020, current cabinet secretary Simon Case, who replaced Sedwill later that year, said of Downing Street: “It is like taming wild animals.

“Nothing in my past experience has prepared me for this madness.

“The PM and the people he chooses to surround himself with are basically feral.”

In response, Sedwill, who later left his role following a series of what he called “anonymous attacks” against him in the press, said he had “the bite marks” following his own experience.

Claims that Johnson’s leadership actively hampered the government’s response to the pandemic have already been heard several times at the inquiry, with witnesses particularly focusing on his indecisiveness.

Asked about this side to the then PM’s personality, Sedwill accepted he “recognised” some of the claims, but insisted he would not “express it that way myself”.

At times he even appeared to defend some of Johnson’s conduct, such as claims the then prime minister didn’t receive any updates on the virus while on a break at the grace-and-favour mansion Chevening House. Sedwill claimed it was “natural for the tempo [of government work] to drop” during a parliamentary recess.

Further messages revealed his management of Johnson involved excluding senior advisers such as chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty from key meetings on pandemic policy to ensure a decision would be made.

While Sedwill, who was given a peerage at the end of his time with the civil service, frequently declined to criticise Johnson directly, he seemed more comfortable giving his assessment of disgraced former health secretary Hancock.

Earlier in the day, he admitted he had delayed holding COBRA meetings in January 2020, at the early stages of the virus outbreak, partly due to fears Hancock’s primary concern was to make a “splash”.

More WhatsApps between Sedwill and his successor, Case, revealed further criticism of the I’m a Celeb loser.

In one exchange he said he had urged Johnson to sack Hancock to “save lives and protect the NHS”.

Asked about this at the inquiry, he claimed the “save lives” comment had been an example of “gallows humour”.

He added: “I don't think I would have used the word sack with the prime minister himself.”

In a later series of messages about a row over a local lockdown in Leicester, he said: “I mostly blame Hancock. Déjà vu.”

Although largely composed throughout the hearing, Sedwill did occasionally appear uncomfortable when similarly candid exchanges were recounted, particularly a discussion in which he compared Covid to chickenpox, adding he was keen to not appear “heartless or thoughtless”.

According to the inquiry’s lead counsel, Hugo Keith, Vallance recorded in his diary an exchange with Sedwill, in which Sedwill called Johnson’s administration “brutal and useless”.

Sedwill claimed he did not recall the conversation, but admitted it was likely to be the product of “a moment of acute frustration”.

Asked by Keith whether his “worthy efforts” to make up for Johnson’s shortcomings had “failed”, Sedwill defended his record in Whitehall.

“I don't agree with that,” he replied.

“They’re complaining about how he got to decisions and how he operated with his inner circle – I didn't think there was any way I could change that.”

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