Lockdown caused 'profound loneliness, pain and anguish', Government admits

Fiona Scolding KC, a lawyer representing the department yesterday told the UK Covid-19 inquiry that it had not got “everything right” but noted that the Government was often faced with “hugely unpalatable options”.

“The department recognises that the guidance it put in place often meant that family and friends were unable to see their loved ones for long periods of time, causing profound loneliness, pain and anguish, the effects of which still endure for many today,” she said during Wednesday’s hearing.

It comes after the lead lawyer for the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, told the inquiry that the department may not have been “very well prepared” for the pandemic due to a preoccupation with planning for the exit from the European Union.

Yesterday a lawyer for the Welsh Government suggested the UK’s pandemic influenza review was paused in 2018 because of withdrawal preparations.

Later on Wednesday Boris Johnson called for the resignation of one of the MPs on the Privileges Committee following suggestions that the MP tasked with investigating him also broke lockdown restrictions.

The former prime minister called on Sir Bernard Jenkin to resign on the eve of the publication of the Committee’s report into whether Mr Johnson misled MPs.

The Guido Fawkes website reported that Sir Bernard went to a drinks party held by Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing in December 2020, while London was in Tier 2 measures restricting indoor mixing.

“Bernard Jenkin has just voted to expel me from Parliament for allegedly trying to conceal from Parliament my knowledge of illicit events,” Mr Johnson said in a statement.

“Now it turns out he may have for the whole time known that he himself attended an event – and concealed this from the Privileges Committee and the whole House for the last year.

“To borrow the language of the committee, if this is the case, he ‘must have known’ he was in breach of the rules.

“He has no choice but to explain his actions to his own committee, for his colleagues to investigate and then to resign.”

Sources said the Tory-majority Privileges Committee, chaired by Labour’s Harriet Harman, had signed off on its report into Mr Johnson and will publish on Thursday morning.

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, accused Rishi Sunak of being “too weak” to block Boris Johnson’s honours list and allowing those who “covered up” lawbreaking to become lawmakers.

Mr Sunak countered the attacks at Prime Minister’s Questions by criticising Labour peerage nominations, including that of former MP Tom Watson who now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Watson of Wyre Forest.

Controversy over Lord Watson’s nomination for a life peerage centred on his role in promoting the false claims of a VIP Westminster paedophile ring made by the fantasist Carl Beech, who used the pseudonym “Nick”.