Did Covid taskforce feel they had to scare Boris Johnson into making decisions? | Covid Inquiry UK

Simon Ridley (Former
Head of Cabinet Office
Covid-19 Taskforce)
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#openDemocracy #ukpolitics #covid19 #covidinquiry #borisjohnson #conservative #NHS #RishiSunak

[@sirloin8745]

Apparently the common people are not the concern of the Conservatives. Only how they can be exploited?

[@peterclarke7240]

Always been the way. This lot are just the Tory philosophy turned up to eleven.

[@michaelstapelberg7751]

always been the case.. the party was literally set up to protect toffs from the chop.. as was happening at that time in france!

[@edwardferry8247]

Their eyes lit up at the staggering sums of public money they could convert into their own private hands, realising in the years to come the NHS would be substantially weakened. They saw the opportunity and utilised the pandemic to enrich themselves and destroy a public service.

[@noelfleming3567]

👍

[@nolacharles9883]

Well said!

[@shit__gamer]

Bingo

[@isabellewhite3505]

The COVID team were incompetent! The lure of personal wealth presented itself. That then took traction. Deaths & chaos increased

[@mariakarvouni5267]

My god can’t he answer a simple question with succinct direct response

[@tomgeorgearts]

So repressed.

[@fatbelly27]

which is the case for nearly every witness in this module.

[@davedwyer1941]

Senior civil servants have a lifetime of training in avoidance of direct questions which cause potential embarrassment for the government. Behind the scenes there are a lot of disagreements and plain speaking but they are too scared to do this in public.

[@ritabramham2574]

I see now that Cummins choice language to describe ministers and officials was spot on. God help us all if this lot are anywhere near the steering wheel for the next crisis

[@TheGalwayFarmer]

there was no "crisis"

[@Caesar-3el]

Johnson......life imprisonment

[@martinryan8101]

He is/was head of the Covid Task Force... the force that Johnson had earlier disbanded. This, knowing that a pandemic was the single biggest threat to the UK and had been identified as such for at least 6 years. This, knowing that such a task force or similar was one of the many recommendations to come out of Operation Cygnus - most of which were ignored.

[@tomgeorgearts]

You can tell this guy is holding back a tsunami of frustration. Inside he wants to say "The guy was impossible!!! He was a nightmare to work with, we were pulling our hair out!!!" but the diplomatic, considered, civil service persona has to be maintained. Quite funny.

[@navi2710]

I have a few friends who work as civil service members. They mostly work to put together reports and all of them said one thing in common about Boris. Boris refused to make any decisions. There'd be senior civil servants asking for reports to make MP's and Boros's decision easier and Boris would just refuse to choose which direction for the country to take.

[@isabellewhite3505]

Sounds like Trump. Perhaps colourful slides should have been used. Complete and utter ineptitude. Civil servants could have ran the covid team far better

[@navi2710]

@isabellewhite3505 The thing is my friends all complained because the unwound spent weeks putting together reports regarding the then situation and the pros and cons of different choices and he'd just refuse to pick any direction. Not even disagree, he'd just put it off for weeks after weeks. It's one thing saying he wants different ideas or focus on a different angle but Bojo did nothing. It was a common complaint from several friends who still work in as civil servants.

[@barneyrubble9309]

well Baldrick, you see there was a problem with the plan....it was BOLLOX.

[@karenhockingkarenhocking9716]

🤣😂🤣

[@SkyEcho7]

😂😂😂 ...we didn't have a plan

[@markgriffiths6540]

Should be more like a trial with more aggressive counter-questioning - as those numpties killed many.

[@paula7084]

Yes , these WEF lapdogs should be doing jail time .

[@Ace48239]

Killed vaccines in 2021.,2022. In 2020. there were no excess deaths. Hospitals were empty, staff furlough. Tragically some people sadly did die needlessly - but only because they ''were consulted over the phone'', advised to take paracetamol (which triggers pneumonia), they did not receive adequate medical care for they conditions. If doctors can be that easily scared off of visiting a patient, thy-doctors may change they job. Doctors job is to visit, examine, and treat sick people.

[@Lee_303]

This inquiry is a waste of time & money if no prosecutions are bought.

[@peterdollins3610]

When anybody answers in off the point complex ways that fudge the issues they are covering up or lying or both.

[@johnking396]

Such incompetence is breathtaking. The damage these beaurocrats have caused. They should be held accountable for their actions.

[@TheGalwayFarmer]

evil is disguised as incompetence

[@stephenburke7612]

Let’s be honest Johnson any job he ever did he was sacked for he was the incumbent lying it was never his fault it was everybody else’s fault

[@JugglinJellyTake01]

This guy can't even plan his next word...

[@frankcarter6427]

You'll never see Keith and Hugh Fearnley Whittaker in the same room

[@frank-r5f8j]

Who is Hugh Fearnley Whittaker....and why not?

[@l33jcm]

Sounds like he's dealing with a child suffering ADHD! Oh, wait, he was!

[@Louisejames23]

They had to scare the plebs so that the lie could be extended and more money could go into their pockets and those of their benefactors.

[@aeonparker-white9306]

We need to get the idea of incompetence being to blame out of the equation. This was all undertaken with a purpose and those who keep denying this will not realise until its too late. This enquiry will end with people demanding more stringent action being taken at a faster pace when the next scare arises and thats what they want. Its time to ensure that these people are held to account by the public not an enquiry which they can use to ensure the public are forced into compliance when the next fabricated health scare is put into action.

[@cstephen98]

In Canadian politics, when a party gets this detached from their public duty (starts after their first successful re-election and really ramps up if they get 2 in a row) the old guard starts stepping down before the election (parting themselves on the back) where the party usually get decimated in the elections and has to rebuild pretty much from scratch. Looks like that's coming your way next election.

[@richardmorgan3647]

It was all lies

[@SaxonSuccess]

It was. All of it. Lies.

[@Wabsy1]

There's no way boris was as ill as he said he was when he had covid I don't believe he went to hospital

[@pipins3616]

You and your conspiracy pals read the Beano potherb

[@Wabsy1]

@@pipins3616 😂 your too funny 😷

[@TheGalwayFarmer]

you are correct

[@Wabsy1]

@@pipins3616 so boris was going to take a jib of the rona live on TV, are you watching the enquiry, you still believe he went to hospital

[@SkyEcho7]

Clearly his job was to concentrate on the economic impact above all else - ZERO surprise there given it's a Tory government 😡

[@clacton17]

Imagine being in a meeting with this guy, take all day to get a decision out of him. In the other video he was schooled by the Lawyer?

[@erikson024]

What a clickbait title

[@peterfox2538]

Johnson only ever thought about himself.

[@jimcameron4672]

Every one a comic

[@stephenjohnson2800]

Well done to Sweden who appear to have acted without such dystopian pressures from unelected bureaucrats.

[@petemccalam5727]

overpaid, under qualified........jail him!