Amongst the evidence from Lee Cain, Boris Johnson's press secretary, to the Covid inquiry was this:
The particular line I am referring to is the last, which says:
Rishi says bond markets may not fund our debt etc. He's back to Jaws mode wank.
What is clear as a result is that on 19 March 2020, Rishi Sunak did not want to close down the county to save people's lives because he was frightened that bond markets would not fund the UK's debt. Not only was that callously indifferent, it also showed he neither understood how government funding via money creation works, or understood how QE had worked even though he was about to use it again (or have its use imposed on him, more likely).
Ignorance coupled with indifference is a scary combination. Sunak had both, by the bucket load, by the look of it.
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Yes!
Sunak will not be able to separate himself from Johnson. He does not deserve to.
Good Lord!!
So Sunak IS running the country on the basis of his induction training at Goldman Sachs!!
Unbelievable.
“We are killing the patient to tackle the tumour” and “Why are we destroying the economy for people who are going to die anyway?” (meeting between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, March 2020; comment attributed to PM)
March 2020: Civil Contingent Secretariat. On Emergency plans, it “does not hold the documents”; i.e., they did not exist. There was no plan. There was never any plan. The claim is still made that Britain would have been a world leader if it had been a flu epidemic. (Lee Cain, yesterday). Wrong. Ten years of Austerity had wrecked the Public Health and NHS resource. Indeed, £1Bn of PPE was in storage for a flu pandemic, usable in Covid: but Austerity meant it was not sustained; when required, it was all out-of-date and unusable. The Conservative Austerity obsession dismantled Britain’s pandemic protection, and in spite of being an island even failed to close the borders; as Taiwan did. This is on Johnson, Sunak and the conservative Party.
“Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Advisor wrote in one of his notebooks in August 2020 that Mr Johnson was ‘obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going. Quite bonkers set of exchanges’”. (Sky New quotation)
For PM, Virus was “Nature’s way of dealing with old people” (Vallance diary on Johnson)
“Eat out to help out the virus” (Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer on Sunak’s daft economic scheme of August, 2020).
There should be no way back for Johnson, Sunak or indeed the Conservative Party. But of course the British electorate have voted for this, knowing that would be in receipt of damaged goods. Anybody prepared to back Johnson in office is guilty of an appalling failure of basic judgement; from the beginning. It was obvious.
The Constitution and Parliament clearly do not work; even to protect the basic security of the people. That is obvious.
Scotland needs to leave this sewer behind. Now.
Agreed, on many counts
In confirmation of the absolutely fundamental fact that there was no plan, Helen MacNamara (Cabinet Office, Deputy Secretary) recounts at the Covid Inquiry that on 13th March, 2020 she walked in on a meeting between Cummings, Cain, Glasborrow and Warner and announced: “”I have just been talking to the official Mark Sweeney, who is in charge of co- ordinating with the Department for Health. He said ‘I have been told for years that there is a whole plan for this. There is no plan. We are in huge trouble.’ I have come through here to the Prime Minister’s office to tell you all that I think we are absolutely f**** d. I think this country is heading for a disaster. I think we are going to kill thousands of people. As soon as I have been told this, have come through to see you. It seems from the conversation you are having that that is correct.”.
Cummings confirmed it.
I note that on BBC Newsnight last night a journalist from the Telegraph (the newspaper that sold both Johnson and Brexit to the British people, by printing dubiously ludicrous stories by Johnson about the EU; in short a media outlet that is part of the political problem within the UK), used the opportunity on this weak, spineless programme to attack the Covid Inquiry for a) failing in its task, and b) already making up its mind. It is an attempt to defend Johnson, before Helen MacNamara and others had the chance to mount the stand, and without any conclusions being drawn by the Chair. This is only part way through Module 2 ‘Core UK decision-making and political governance’; of an Inquiry with five Active, one Future modules, and other possible Modules to be added. It is an outrageous and pernicious accusation, made only because of the forensic revelations the lead counsel teased out of the witnesses.
The Telegraph and other Press outlets have done a great deal to create exactly the toxic politics and monstrous, dehumanised values that have created the mess incarnated by the Johnson government.
Agreed
Her evidence is much more important than. that from Cummings
It will be interesting to see which of the media, if any, will be brave enough to point out that the austerity which gave Covid an open door to exploit wasn’t just disastrous bad luck/timing caused by circumstances beyond the UK Gov’s control, but was entirely avoidable. Which media outlet will be brave enough to point out that the people in charge of our economy, blinded by their dogmatic belief in neoliberal economics didn’t (and still don’t) appear to understand how the macro economy and money creation actually work? And that’s despite the creation of billions to fund furlough and other initiatives on their watch during the battle against Covid.
Andy Verity certainly understands it, so it’ll be interesting to see how much exposure his employers, the BBC, give him.
@Ken Mathieson:
Andy Verity may understand money creation, but I wonder if Faisal Islam (Economics Editor) or Darshini David (Senior correspondent) do. So often ‘conventional wisdom’ about government spending, tax & spend and ‘fiscal responsibility’ gets repeated parrot-like, by everyone.
“Money Wanker Mode” – or MWM. Is that an addiction amongst Britain’s politicians? Pathetically it would seem so!
Well that shows me how naive I am…..
I actually though they must knew how money works, our ability to create money at the press of a key on a computer, and that they played along with the lie that “there is no money” so they could dish out austerity through sheer hatred but it turns out they don’t, they really are as thick as mince.
The COVID inquiry is demonstrating this before our eyes, thorough wickedness,
a complete disregard for the vulnerable in our country, a flagrant recklessness with the health of our children all coupled with avarice and stupidity beyond belief.
I am aghast, appalled, and disgusted in equal measure.
Does the IMF know how money works?
I wonder if you have seen the Opinion piece in last weekend’s FT by the first deputy managing director, Gita Gopinath?
I fear that they, like Rishi Sunak DO know, but pretend that they don’t so that money creation can be reserved for saving the system, and preserving inequality. If you have time I’d appreciate your more nuanced judgement!
I will read it
I think it fairly safe to say that Yes, Sunak really is that stupid and callous.
‘Ignorance coupled with indifference is a scary combination.’ I would add a third dangerous aspect of Sunak’s character – a supreme belief in his own abilities and superior intelligence. This results in arrogance and a condescending approach to anyone who challenges his thinking. Add to this mix the lack of any real world experience and you have someone more out of touch with reality than any prime minister since the late 50’s and early 60’s.
Agreed