Former chancellor Rishi Sunak thought “just let people die and that’s okay” during the pandemic, Sir Patrick Vallance’s diaries reveal.
Giving evidence at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Sir Patrick said he made a note of what former chief advisor Dominic Cummings told him Mr Sunak said during a meeting in October 2020.
Earlier, Sir Patrick admitted Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme “obviously” had an effect on increased Covid transmissions.
He said: “It’s quite likely that had an effect on transmission. In fact it’s very difficult to see how it wouldn’t have had an effect on transmission and that would have been the advice that was given, had we been asked beforehand.”
Asked whether Mr Sunak would have been aware of the risks, Sir Patrick added: “I think it would have been very obvious to anyone that this was likely to cause an issue that inevitably would cause an increase in transmission risk.”
Sir Patrick also said Boris Johnson was “bamboozled” by scientific advice during the pandemic, repeatedly forgetting things he had been told just hours earlier.
