Dominic C Covid evidence 2

[Newtonianmechanics]

New thread for if old fills up.

and to the valiant reporters. I just can't bring myself to watch this live.

I'm hugely behind, so I may be posting about things said an hour ago.

To me, he is putting a positive spin on everything and not really fessing up to the reality.

"It was really difficult, but in my department I had a can do attitude" - (my paraphrasing.)

I may be biased, but I much prefer the evidence from civil servants, advisors etc. They are stating what actually happened and backing it up with evidence.
Whereas the politicians, Hancock in particular. Is talking about how they feel about what happened, but with no evidence to back it up.

"The same people accusing me of over confidence were blocking the action I believed we needed'"

Another one off the bingo list.

The true victim of covid in Matt Hancocks view, is none other than Matt Hancock..

This is the 'superhero complex' Helen and other civil servants were talking about.
He very much believes he knew everything about covid and was pushing for all the correct actions to be taken. It's not his fault everyone else was incompetent and wasn't listening to him..

This man is delusional. He is completely re-writing history.

This is holding up sadly well, isn't it?

I can't really follow it today but from the bits that I have seen it seems to be a lot of nobody told me, blame the scientists and now it's Cummings fault.

Jim Reed BBC

It's a theme the health secretary has returned to regularly in his testimony today - that he was the one raising concerns early in the pandemic but the rest of government, and in particular Downing Street and the cabinet office, were not always listening.

I'm pleased I didn't suggest turning it into a drinking game.

I'd be passed out, face planting the carpet by now.

WTF

https://x.com/BestForBritain/status/1730182752757006843?s=20

Extraordinary. Watch in full and share.

Hancock says he told people we were brilliantly prepared (NB claim plan was regularly refreshed), not because of any inquiries he had made in his own dept, but based on an international index that ranked the UK highly. ~AA #CovidInquiry

Oh, shall we play Boris drinking bingo next week?

https://x.com/implausibleblog/status/1730193091871518833?s=20

Wow! - Matt Hancock, "I first told PM Boris Johnson to lockdown on March 13th"

Hugo Keith, "You mention other things on that day but your book makes no reference to this"

MH, "I didn't have full access to my papers"

HK, "Your book says you had all your papers, notes, memos, communications. 555 pages of relevant events, but no reference to you telling the PM to lockdown on 13th March"

MH, "I can remember it, it came to light looking forward to this inquiry" #CovidInquiry

x.com/implausibleblog/status/1730193091871518833?s=20

Matt Hancock blames Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance for not mentioning asymptomatic transmission early on, saying if they had mentioned it earlier, maybe things would be different.

Hugo Keith cites minutes from a NERVTAG meeting on 21st February which states: 40% of cases are asymptomatic

Matt Hancock says he didn't see that #CovidInquiry

Hancock looks ridiculous; what it says about Johnson is equally bad. This whole inquiry is an indictment of the crap cabinet he appointed.

BBC recap

Matt Hancock has spent the last few hours giving evidence to the Covid inquiry.
Let's have a quick recap of the key moments from this morning:

• The former health secretary used his appearance at the inquiry to insist the Department of Health and Social Care "rose to the challenge" of responding to the pandemic
• Previous evidence sessions had heard accusations there was a "clear lack of grip" within the department
• Hancock branded Dominic Cummings's evidence to the UK Covid-19 inquiry "not accurate" adding from his point of view Cummings "got in the way" of the response to the pandemic by trying to stage "a power-grab"
• Hancock insisted he had to "wake up Whitehall" to the emerging threat from Covid-19
• He also said the working relationship within Downing Street was not good, describing a "toxic" culture
• The former Tory MP told the inquiry in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak there was a "fog of uncertainty" about asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 which he found "deeply frustrating"
• He said even by the end of January his staff were still being "dragged into meetings" with Number 10 about meeting manifesto commitments when they should have been focusing on the pandemic

<- my actual face right now.

We can.

Right, just going to add an extra 5 bottles of vodka to the shopping list and pre-warn the ambulance service I might need their help.

He's just making it up as he goes along.

It's clear he has done some form of PR training before this Inquiry and has been taught to "reframe" the past in the best possible light and suddenly remember things of it doesn't look good for him.

I have an empty suitcase ready to take to the shops.

This might appear to be 'aligned' to what Jenny Harries said in her evidence yesterday and Weds pm.

It would be interesting to know if this is what she advised Hancock, and he believed it, and why.

Woooh. Evening of 13th March - Hancock raising a phone call that Keith is surprised wasn't disclosed to inquiry

edit: call supposedly about pressing PM to go into lockdown

The way that Hugo Keith KC gave permission for Matt Hancock to 'proceed' like the Head Prefect talking a junior in a corridor ...

Baroness asks about apparent lack of 'action points' in the The Great Plan, and Hancock says 'they are there but not as prominent as they might as been ... '

Keith follows up and gets a response of 'oblique references'

FFS we're talking about key stuff like schools here.

Now we're hearing from Hancock about Helen Whately saying that she had only two inadequate Great Plans for the care sector.

There is a reference that Hancock says he was told this is the responsibility of local authorities.

[LAs had and have no money, Matt, remember?]

10th March - clear there was an acceleration in transmission - info coming from Prof Ferguson et al

Hancock is asked by Keith what he did?

Fecking hell, Hancock's talking about the impact on himself ... he rang Italian counterpart and it had a big impact on him ...

'And I started actively agitating for a lockdown'.

[Really, Matt?]

In case anyone's wondering, by the way, Hancock read PPE at Oxford and has an MPhil in Economics.

Matt Hancock says he didn't bother to read minutes from SAGE at the start of the pandemic.

Hugo Keith: "Did anyone know that the Secretary for Health was not reading the minutes day in day out from the sole Scientific Advisory Committee on Emergencies?"

Hancock: "I don't know."

and

Incidentally, he also revealed in the morning that he wasn't seeing NERVTAG minutes, as a defence to why he didn't know about asymptomatic transmission. So, he was basically not on top of his brief.