Covid inquiry live: Priti Patel admits policing of Sarah Everard vigil was ‘totally inappropriate’

Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain have arrived for their box office appearances at the Covid inquiry.

The two top former Boris Johnson aides arrived at Dorlan House in central London, dressed in dark jackets, shirts and ties.

Cain gives evidence first at 10am, followed by Cummings, whose session is expected to run well into the afternoon.

A former Tory health minister has said Monday’s hearings at the Covid inquiry were “very chilling”, and “point to an office culture that had gone badly wrong”, Archie Mitchell reports.

After a series of WhatsApp messages between top officials revealed Boris Johnson’s “flip-flopping” on key decisions made it “impossible” to tackle the pandemic, Lord Bethell said the culture in Downing Street was “appalling”.

Pointing to Mr Johnson, who appointed him as health minister in March 2020, Lord Betell said: “It is 100 per cent about leadership. Cultures are defined by the people at the top.

“Yesterday we saw and heard a lot about the leadership style of Boris Johnson and its limitations.”

He told the BBC: “I found it very chilling… And what it points to is an office culture that had gone badly wrong, that bullying and chaotic behaviours had become normalised, and that is the most appalling culture when you’re trying to organise a national response to a pandemic.”

Sir Keir Starmer will be competing for airtime with Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings as he delivers a major speech in London setting out the party’s stance on Israel’s war against Hamas, Archie Mitchell reports.

The Labour leader is hoping to settle a row which has been building in his party since the terror group’s deadly attacks this month, calling for humanitarian pauses but not a ceasefire.

He will argue that a permanent ceasefire could lead to more violence in Israel and Gaza, while humanitarian pauses can pave the way for the renewal of a political process to pursue peace via a two-state solution.

Sir Keir has overseen the suspension of the whip from senior Labour MP Andy McDonald, after he said: "We won’t rest until we have justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty."

A Labour spokesman said the remarks were "deeply offensive".

And he has withstood pressure from several frontbench MPs who have broken ranks to call for a ceasefire, against party policy.

It comes amid fears the party could hemorrhage support among Muslim voters over its support for Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

A Tory minister has claimed Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain’s officials would also have sent “embarrassing” WhatsApps about the former prime ministers, Archie Mitchell reports.

Transport minister Richard Holden made the claim after messages released by the Covid-19 inquiry on Monday showed Britain’s top civil servant branded Boris Johnson’s government a “tragic joke”.

Mr Holden told Times Radio: “If there were conversations between people and they’d been recorded all throughout history as they are on WhatsApp, then would it be similarly embarrassing.

“Would Churchill and Chamberlain have faced similar what their colleagues said about them on X or Y day? I’m absolutely positive they would have.”

Dominic Cummings has trolled Matt Hancock by posting a clip of the former health secretary receiving a tirade of abuse during an episode of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

In a sweary and heated exchange, one of the show’s trainers accuses Hancock, who served as health secretary during the pandemic, of being Mr f*cking know-it-all”.

She also describes him as a “sarcastic little f*cker!” who just wants to “talk, talk talk”.

Posting a clip of the exchange on his X page, ahead of his appearance at the inquiry, Cummings wrote: “she speaks for England & remarkably like some whatsapps at the time from women all over Whitehall”.

Warning - the clip below contains swearing:

One of Boris Johnson’s key aides turned messages to “disappear” in a key Covid WhatsApp group only weeks after the ex-PM promised a Covid public inquiry, it has been revealed.

Martin Reynolds was grilled about switching the function to delete messages in the then-PM’s group April 2021 – just after Mr Johnson announced an inquiry – as he gave evidence on Monday.

Adam Forrest reports:

Former Boris Johnson aide Martin Reynolds struggled to answer questions at the Covid inquiry today. But with Dominic Cummings about to give evidence, it could be Johnson and Rishi Sunak who will soon be doing the squirming, writes Sean O’Grady.

Read Sean’s full piece here:

A series of scathing WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson’s top team have accused the former prime minister of making it “impossible” to tackle Covid, as he created chaos and changed direction “every day”.

The extraordinary messages sent between the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case reveal the strong disquiet among Mr Johnson’s advisers, with Mr Case, the cabinet secretary and top civil servant, at one point declaring: “I am at the end of my tether.”

Archie Mitchell reports:

Lee Cain had been due to appear before the inquiry yesterday but his session was delayed because Martin Reynolds’s evidence ran over.

Cain is scheduled to appear first at 10am this morning, followed by Cummings. According to the inquiry agenda, the former chief of staff’s session will run into the afternoon, beyond 2pm.

Yesterday, Cummings was described as one of the most powerful chiefs of staff ever.