Boris Johnson joked about Treasury being the ‘pro death squad’ during pandemic, Covid inquiry told – UK politics live | Politics

During his evidence his morning Stuart Glassborow, deputy principal private secretary to Boris Johnson during the pandemic, admitted that the government decided to go ahead with the “eat out to help out” subsidy scheme for restaurants in the summer of 2020 without getting scientific advice on the impact it might have on Covid transmission.

Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor, was personally associated with the scheme, and he was embarrassed by subsequent evidence showing it had led to a rise in the number of people getting Covid.

Glassborow told the inquiry that during July 2020, before the scheme was launched, he and others in No 10 “did become aware that there hadn’t been direct CMO (chief medical officer), CSA (chief scientific adviser), Sage (scientific advisory group for emergencies) analysis on this policy”.

Asked if a decision was taken to persist with the scheme anyway, without scientific advice, Glassborow said:

I can’t speak on behalf of all people who would have had an interest in this. I don’t recall significant representations being made to in some sense revisit the policy – that’s not to say some people didn’t have views one way or another at that time.

Last week the inquiry was told that Prof Chris Whitty, the CMO, called the scheme “eat out to help out the virus”.

This morning the Daily Express splashed on comments from Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, welcoming a report from the rightwing Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank about Brexit. Badenoch says the report shows that “contrary to some media reports and many pre-Brexit establishment voices, the data says Brexit has not had a major impact on UK–EU trade” (although the Express splash goes further, claiming the report shows Brexit has “boosted UK trade”).

Experts have dismissed the findings, and particularly the way they were written up in an IEA press release quoting figures purportedly showing EU trade up since 2019 – but only because the numbers in the relevant chart have not been adjusted to take into account the impact of inflation.

(The actual report says Brexit has “not had a major detrimental effect on UK–EU trade”. The IEA press release is headlined “Brexit leaves UK trade unscathed”.)

These are from Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London.

This is from David Henig, a trade expert and the UK director at the European Centre For International Political Economy thinktank.

And these are from Anton Spisak, the Brexit expert at the Tony Blair Institute thinktank.

Catherine McBride, author of the report, says she is not to blame for the way the IEA wrote up her findings in its press release.

At the Covid inquiry Stuart Glassborow, deputy principal private secretary to Boris Johnson during coronavirus, has been giving evidence.

Dermot Keating, counsel for the inquiry, was asking the questions, and he has just asked Glassborow about an entry in Sir Patrick Vallance’s diary in which Vallance, the chief scientific adviser at the time, records Boris Johnson as referring to the Treasury as the “pro death squad”. Johnson reportedly used the phrase in January 2021, when he wanted the Treasury to back him in arguing for an early lifting of lockdown measures.

Johnson was referring to the Treasury being in favour of prioritising the economy in internal debates on lockdown policy.

Glassborow told the inquiry he did not recall that phrase being used.

UPDATE: Reading from Vallance’s diary, Keating said:

There is an entry … at meeting on 25 January 2021 the PM is recorded saying he wants tier 3 March 1, tier 2 April 1 Tier 1 May 1 and nothing by September, and he ends it by saying the team must bring in the pro-death squad from HMT. Do you recall the phraseology by the prime minister referring to HMT as the pro-death squad?

Glassborow replied:

As I say, this I think refers to a meeting from a couple of years ago. I dont recall that specific phrase. I see that this is from Patrick’s notebook. I wouldn’t dispute what he’s recorded, but I don’t recall the phrase at all.

Police have arrested dozens of Just Stop Oil protesters near Downing Street after activists lay down on the road and lined up on pavements along Whitehall.

The action took place around the same time as two Just Stop Oil activists were arrested for criminal damage after the glass on the Rokeby Venus painting in the National Gallery was shattered by a man and a woman.

The painting was originally slashed by suffragettes in 1914. One of those involved on Monday said: “Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds not words.”

The Metropolitan police said officers had arrested at least 40 activists who were “slow marching” and that Whitehall was clear after a brief period of traffic being stopped.

The prelude to the arrests on Whitehall was witnessed by the Conservative peer David Frost, who posted this on X.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing No 10 was unable to defend Suella Braverman’s claim that rough sleeping is a “lifestyle choice”.

Asked if the government had any evidence to back up this claim, the PM’s spokesperson replied:

The reasons are complex, I think mental health and addiction are drivers of homelessness.

Asked if the prime minister ever gets tired of having to defend Braverman, the spokesperson said:

The prime minister continues to work closely with the home secretary, not least on this issue of protests … and of course on small boats.

The spokesperson also declined to say Rishi Sunak agreed with Braverman’s description of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations as “hate marches”.

This is from David Wilcock from Mail Online.

No10 not offering a lot of love for Suella Braverman today. Won’t back claims that homelessness is ‘lifestyle choice’ and pro-Palestinian demos are ‘hate marches’. ‘The PM continues to work closely with the Home Sec’, says spox when asked if Sunak is tired of defending her.

Suella Braverman, the home secretary, is holding a meeting today to discuss the proposal for a pro-Palestinian march to go ahead on Armistice Day on Saturday, Rishi Sunak said.

Ministers seem to be actively encouraging the police to initiate the process that would lead to the march being banned. (The Home Office has the final say, but it can only approve a ban if the police ask for one.) Last week the Metropolitian police pointed out that no demonstration is planned for Remembrance Sunday and that the organisers of the march planned for Saturday, Armistice Day, will avoid the area near the Cenotaph where commemorations will take place.

Sunak said:

Remembrance Day is a time for national reflection. It is a time when I know the whole country will come together to pay tribute to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe. I want to make sure police have our absolute and total backing to clamp down on any acts of criminality, but also to ensure public order.

The Metropolitan police have said they will use “all powers and tactics” at their disposal to prevent disruption, including section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986, which allows the banning of a procession when there is a risk of serious disorder. The Met commander Karen Findlay said:

We fully appreciate the national significance of Armistice Day. Thousands of officers will be deployed in an extensive security operation and we will use all powers and tactics at our disposal to ensure that anyone intent on disrupting it will not succeed.

Clare Lombardelli, chief economic adviser to the Treasury during coronavirus, told the Covid inquiry that the department did not have an estimate for the cost of lockdown. She said:

I wouldn’t say there was no meaningful modelling. There was a lot of analysis and modelling that happened.

What I would say is there was no estimated cost of a lockdown, if you like. There was no way to basically say a lockdown will cost you X, or indeed a lockdown of this form will cost you X but of a different form will cost you Y …

I think it’s a bit too far to say there was no meaningful modelling done, there was a lot of useful modelling … But there wasn’t was an estimate of, the lockdown will cost X in terms of jobs or economic activity.

More than 100 British nationals have now been able to leave Gaza, Rishi Sunak said this morning. In his pooled TV interview he said:

We have been very clear and consistent that we support humanitarian pauses, which are there specifically to allow aid to get into Gaza and hostages and foreign nationals to come out. I’m pleased that over 100 British nationals have now been able to leave Gaza thanks to our diplomatic engagement. I spoke to both the Egyptian president and the Israeli prime minister about this specific issue last week.