Dominic Cummings Covid evidence

[Newtonianmechanics]

Is anyone going to watch this man give evidence today?

Apparently there is a vigil in Barnard Castle ahead of this.

The shopping trolleys emoji seems to mean they think Carrie was controlling Boris from the last few days. Wonder if this will feature.

I'm a Civil Servant 😁 I like to think I'm quite witty.

I'm definitely good fun with a few whiskeys in me

I have no idea what this man is taking about.

At the moment it's very unclear. He keeps talking about being passionate, but I'm not sure what he is passionate about.

There we go, "I was just a junior minister"

Knew it wouldn't be long till he rolled that one out.

Same, I'm obsessed!

Why?

Not exactly Kate Garraway's husband was he.

Only just starting to catch up

This conversation

Mark Sedwell: Hancock so far up BJ's *rse his ankles are brown

Simon Case: So mad..

Simon Case: The virus is the fault of the unions and the parents

WhatsApps #CovidInquiry

I utterly believe that Johnson thought that as Prime Minister that if he really, really, really wanted something to happen then because he was Prime Minister and said it should it would.

You mean like "the King of the World?"

Indeed, at no point in his life has he allowed reality to intrude.

The what's apps are mental.

I'm going through my WhatsApp deleting anything self incriminating

jgw1
I utterly believe that Johnson thought that as Prime Minister that if he really, really, really wanted something to happen then because he was Prime Minister and said it should it would.

Alexandra2001 ·
You mean like "the King of the World?"

I thought "Tinkerbell"

It's been a while since I watched Peter Pan, but i thought if you really really really believed in fairies, then they would appear

A bit like unicorns and sunny uplands.......sorry I'll stop mentioning Brexit

That’s the most likely outcome of all this WhatsApp line by line in an inquiry

Wouldn't it be a lovely result of this inquiry if instead of the government spending its time sending each other offensive whatsapp messages they concentrated on governing?

I suppose it is within all our powers to help achieve that at the next General Election.

Today's hearing will be very interesting

10:00 am
Martin Hewitt QPM (Former Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council)

Dame Priti Patel MP (Former Secretary of State for the Home Department)

2:00 pm
Jun Pang (Policy and Campaigns Officer, Liberty)

Based on the nature of these 3 people jobs , I think the KC will focus on the policing of covid restrictions, fines etc.

I think a couple of you were talking about the fines the police were issuing-
I think we will find out today from Priti, (Home Secretary at the time) and Martin (Police Cheif) what and why they made they decisions to get the police to enforce the lockdowns.

Personally, I am looking forward to Jun Pang. I've done some googling and she is a Human Rights campaigner. She specialises in civil liberties, immigration rights and also the Covid pandemic.
I think her thoughts and opinions on the fines, restrictions during covid will be very interesting.
I think Human Rights campaigners are brilliant, but no doubt the likes of the Daily Mail.will call her "enemy of the people".

Our first witness today, Martin Hewitt QPM (Former Chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council) has now been sworn in and begins his evidence.

He is being questioned by Counsel to the Inquiry Andrew O’Connor KC

I will try and find updates during the day but am limited to twitter and live blogs
·

So far Martin Hewitt is explaing the police set up a central incident operation called Operation Tala

All different police forces had to go through this cental unit for Covid decisions.

There were 144 changes, over the course of the pandemic, to the rules/laws/regulations the police enforced.

i presume he is implyimg this made policing really difficult as police officers couldn't keep up with the rules.

They've touched upon how guidance was not law, but some police officers were confused about this.

Oh. Its kicking off, the Chair is getting involved.

Its all to do with the police power to force a person to get a test.

Apparently, I didn't know this, but if the police suspected you had covid, they could force you to get a test.

The chair called it a bad piece of legislation.
Martin agrees
He said how can a police officer have grounds to make someone get a covid test, when some people dont show symptoms.

I am not at all surprised at the confusing guidance.

That was totally deliberate in my view

Martin Hewitt QPM has now concluded his evidence.

Our second witness today, Dame Priti Patel MP (Former Secretary of State for the Home Department) has now been sworn in and begins her evidence.

She is being questioned by Lead Counsel Hugo Keith KC.

(Thanks for the updates minou, I can't find much online)

Martin Hewitt says the speed at which rules changed & the tiers & staging structure meant "it became incredibly difficult for even a perfectly law abiding and committed citizen to understand precisely what that meant for them".

Priti Patel says drawing up covid health protection regulations was "solely the domain of the Department of Health and Social Care".

Priti Patel says the role of the Home Office "was to bring to light the practical realities of the direction of travel… what was working and what was not working around enforcement and the application of regulations from policing".

Priti Patel says govt was "asking police to almost do the impossible" so the Home Office needed to "give them a voice".

That's essentially his whole evidence.

I'm a little bit behind, so I'm still listening to Martin.
Currently divering the laws on protesting......surprise surprise, they were confusing too.