Hancock’s appearance at Covid Inquiry underlines idiocy of the entire exercise
There are many reasons why the Government has no money; gross incompetence, past idiocy, the all-consuming Moloch of R’NHS etc. However, one small, ongoing reason is that it is still running an expensive and wasteful enquiry about how Covid became – you guessed it – such an expensive and wasteful exercise.
The inquiry has been projected to cost taxpayers £208 million; making it the most expensive in British history. Nor is it expected to report until 2026 or 2027. By way of comparison, our friends in Sweden had already wrapped theirs up by February 2022, before the UK terms of reference had even been agreed.
Imagine being a silk seconded to that cushy gig. You’d just get your dictionary out and put a neat line through the word “efficiency” wouldn’t you? You’d probably do the same for “value”, “for” and “money” too – safe in the knowledge that you’d never need to use them again.
Behind Jacqueline Carey KC, the lead counsel to the inquiry, were the ranks of people being paid mind-boggling amounts to sit there and pretend they weren’t playing solitaire. One of them, in a beautifully nostalgic touch, was even wearing a mask. Perhaps the plan is to make the whole thing a living museum. People could go and dress up as Captain Sir Tom or Boris’s cake, Sir Keir’s naughty curry or Gina Coladangelo’s bum.
On the subject of which, as this white elephant continues its romp around the committee halls of Whitehall, it was the turn of the Nation’s Sweetheart, Matt Hancock to appear. Hancock, who now looks like Andy Pandy if he’d been scalped by the Lakota, was as featherweight as he’d ever been. He talked about “improved estimation processes”, which is what you and I would call “guessing”. Joyously, one of the first lines of questioning was about how the Covid response had sought to extract “value for money”. Physician, heal thyself!
“You’re asking me for a recollection of something four years ago. I’m pretty sure that I said it” stammered Hancock when asked about the Nightingale hospitals.
Many exchanges ran like this; and herein lies the problem: the longer the inquiry drags on, the more memories fade, and the more ludicrous it all seems.
Since the pandemic, we’ve seen multiple changes of prime minister and a change of government, new wars in Europe and the Middle East. Each week brings further evidence of the madness of that time; another grift courtesy of the Captain Tom Foundation, more damning data about educational outcomes and cancer survival rates.
Naturally, what is perhaps the most vital question when considering the avoidance of future pandemics – namely, the origin of the virus – sits explicitly outside the inquiry’s terms of reference. This time last year, Hugo Keith KC was scolding Michael Gove for mentioning the “somewhat divisive issue” of the likelihood of man-made causes. Presumably, he should have stuck to less divisive questions also examined by the inquiry, such as “Why did Simon Case insult you on WhatsApp?” or “Did Mark Sedwill give Sir Patrick Vallance the evil eye at a meeting in 2020?”
By the end of the afternoon, Mr Hancock had conceded that the government “got it wrong” with restrictions on funerals and visiting dying relatives during the pandemic. Here we have the very best encapsulation of this whole ridiculous exercise; millions of pounds spent to get the answer to a question which any Telegraph reader could have told you for free four years ago.