DOMINIC Cummings has told MPs that ministers, officials and advisers "fell disastrously short of the standards the public has a right to expect" in the pandemic as apologised for the mistakes made and the lives lost "unnecessarily".
Boris Johnson's former chief aide made the statement as he gave evidence to a Commons committee which is examining the UK Government's handling of the crisis which has claimed the lives of more than 120,000 people in Britain.
Cummings said: "The truth is is that senior ministers, senior officials and senior advisers like me fell disastrous short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this.
"When the public needed us most the government failed and I would like to say to all the families who died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and my own mistakes at that."
No 10 is braced for explosive claims about the the Prime Minister's handling of the pandemic with Cummings giving evidence to the Commons health and science committees.
He compared how Taiwan "hit the panic button" and closed its borders around New Year's Eve 2019 and introduced quarantine systems in January 2020, going o to say that along with most of the West, the UK failed to "hear the alarm bells".
Cummings said he first asked ministers on January 25, 2020, what plans they had in place to deal with a pandemic and said he regrets that he "did not follow up" and "push" on preparations at the end of January 2020, adding that it was not until the end of February that it was realised the plans were "hollow".
He said the Government was not operating on a "war footing" in February 2020 as the global crisis mounted and "lots of key people were literally skiing in the middle of February".
Cummings admitted not attending early Cobra meetings – claiming information leaked too frequently from them and he would rather discuss issues in conversations with chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson rejected lockdown pleas because Covid 'only kills 80-year-olds'
The former No 10 insider also suggested Johnson did not chair early meetings of Cobra because he did not consider the virus to be serious.
He said the Prime Minister thought the issue was like "swine flu" and did not need to cause concern.
And he suggested that Johnson had considered being injected with coronavirus by chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty to prove it was not that serious.
"The view of various officials inside No 10 was – if we have the Prime Minister chairing Cobra meetings and he just tells everyone 'it's swine flu, don't worry about it, I'm going to get Chris Whitty to inject me live on TV with coronavirus so everyone realises it's nothing to be frightened of' - that would not help actually serious planning," he said.
Cummings, who mastermined the Vote Leave campaign, was a key figure in Downing Street until he was ousted last November in an internal power struggle.
Last year he was accused of breaching Covid restrictions by travelling to Durham to London after his wife fell ill with the disease.
He admitted travelling from Durham to Barnard Castle later saying he did so to "test his eyesight".
Ahead of his appearance before MPs, Cummings tweeted a picture of a whiteboard on which the Government's "plan B" for the first wave of the virus was sketched out.
Cummings had said the Government's original plan was for limited intervention with the hope of achieving herd immunity but that was abandoned when it became clear the scale of the death toll that would result.
Earlier, Cabinet minister Grant Shapps dismissed Cummings' evidence as a "sideshow".
He said the focus on Cummings as "Westminster bubble stuff" and "I do find this obsession about one single adviser a bit odd".
Asked whether Cummings is a liar, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told BBC Breakfast: "I will leave it to others to judge how reliable a witness that former adviser happens to be."
Asked whether Cummings was a "trusted adviser", Shapps said: "He was certainly an adviser of the Government. It's for others to decide the trusted part of it."
Cummings' claims about the Government having a secret policy for herd immunity at the start of the pandemic were also challenged.
WhatsApp messages from March 2020 reported by Politico showed that, while in charge of No 10, Cummings privately ordered senior Cabinet ministers to deny herd immunity was ever government policy.
Shapps also denied claims that Johnson called Covid-19 "kung flu" and considered being injected with coronavirus live on air in an attempt to demonstrate it was nothing to be scared of.
The Daily Mail reported Cummings will make those claims when he appears before MPs.
On LBC Radio, Shapps was asked if he had ever heard the Prime Minister use the term "kung flu".
"Never, no," the Transport Secretary said.
Asked if he had heard the Prime Minister say he wanted to be infected live on TV,Shapps said: "No, never, again no."
Shapps added: "It's a bit of a circus from someone who was there at the time and had the facility and the ability to influence a lot of these decisions, of course."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel