Covid inquiry roundup: Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings provide worrying insight into No 10
Ex-health secretary Matt Hancock believed that he – rather than doctors or the public – should decide “who should live and who should die” if hospitals became overwhelmed with Covid patients, the former NHS chief executive has said.
Lord Simon Stevens said that “fortunately this horrible dilemma never crystallised”, as he told the Covid inquiry on Thursday that it would have to look “very carefully” at the issue of asymptomatic Covid patients being discharged from hospitals into care homes.
It comes a day after former top civil servant and ethics chief Helen MacNamara said the “female perspective” was missed during the pandemic as she condemned a “toxic” and “macho” culture at the highest levels of Mr Johnson’s government.
Ms MacNamara also said she was “disappointed” that Mr Johnson had not called out an expletive-laden message written about her by Dominic Cummings.
On Tuesday, Mr Cummings apologised for the language used in a series of foul-mouthed messages criticising members of the government – including the one referred to by Ms MacNamara – but denied misogyny, saying he had been “much ruder” about the men.
