Baroness Heather Hallett has hit headlines recently, as the Covid inquiry chairwoman.
The baroness is leading the inquiry into the UK’s response to the Covid pandemic, amid the continuing furore around the Partygate scandal.
Baroness Hallett recently opened the inquiry telling the British people that they deserve a “thorough investigation” into their government, what went into - and what went wrong - with planning for the pandemic, and what the consequences were.
Following the recent row over former prime minister Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, Baroness Hallett reiterated it was up to her to decide what evidence is “relevant or potentially relevant”.
This follows the Government’s judicial review, in which she ordered the Cabinet Office to hand over Mr Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, diary entries, and other documents.
Mr Johnson has since agreed to hand over the material.
Who is Baroness Hallett?
Heather Carol Hallett, aged 73, is a former Court of Appeal judge. According to the government website, in 1998, she became the first woman to chair the Bar Council, the lead representative body for barristers in England and Wales.
After becoming a presiding judge, she was then promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2005.
In 2013, she was appointed vice president of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division.
In 2015, she was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to conduct a review into On the Runs. This examined more than 200 people who were told they were no longer wanted for paramilitary crimes committed before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
In April 2019, she became the chair of the Security Vetting Appeals Panel.
Later that year, she was appointed to conduct individual fatality investigations assigned to her. While, in December 2021, former prime minister Boris Johnson appointed Baroness Hallett as chair of the inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.
What’s the latest from the Covid inquiry?
There have been arguments over transparency in recent weeks, as the inquiry revealed that WhatsApp messages from senior Foreign Office figures had been redacted. It was also revealed that security experts will be asked to switch on Mr Johnson’s old phone to search material from 2020, the height of the Covid pandemic.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the Government is taking its own Covid inquiry to court to avoid having to disclose material it considers “unambiguously irrelevant”. Some have said that this is a “cowardly cover-up”, and one of Mr Sunak’s own ministers has even said that the judicial review is likely to fail.
When does the Covid inquiry end?
Baroness Hallett, has confirmed she aims to conclude public hearings by summer 2026.
