No 10 ‘rewrote advice on social distancing’ as aide wrote ‘we’re f***ed’

Downing Street rewrote scientific advice on the two-metre social distancing rule at the height of the pandemic, the Covid Inquiry has been told.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser to Boris Johnson’s government, wrote in his diary in June 2020 about his dismay that a review by scientists of social distancing had been rewritten and the advice had been “cherry picked”, which he said was “quite extraordinary”.

At the time, the government was preparing to issue new social distancing advice as part of the further lifting of lockdown measures on 23 June. That advice from government said people should try to stick to two metres apart, but where it was not possible, they should attempt to stay “one metre plus”.

The inquiry also heard that in early March 2020, as the virus took hold in the UK, a No 10 aide wrote “we are f***ed” during a meeting of the government’s scientific advisory committee, Sage.

Sir Patrick’s diary entries also show that he believed he, chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty and scientists on Sage were being used as “human shields” by some in government in their defence of mistakes made during the pandemic, the inquiry heard.

The top scientist believed there was a “Sage is trouble vibe” emerging in Downing Street at the height of the Covid crisis in 2020.

The evidence was read out on the first day of the second part of the Covid Inquiry by Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry.

Mr Keith told inquiry chair Lady Hallett: “Professor Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, wrote evening notes every night or most nights during the pandemic, in which he put down his thoughts from those extremely difficult and troubling days.

“He’s provided a copy of those notes in his diary quite properly to this inquiry. In his notes for 7 May, 2020, he makes this observation: ‘ministers tried to make the science give the answers rather than them making decisions’.

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“In a diary entry from 10 June, 2020 the professor records: ‘I’m worried that a Sage is trouble vibe is appearing in Number 10’. It may be the government selected on occasion from Sage what it wanted.”

Mr Keith quoted Sir Patrick as saying on the same day: “There was a paper from Number 10/Cabinet Office for the one metre/two metre review. Some person has completely rewritten the scientific advice as though it’s the definitive version. They’ve been cherry picked. Quite extraordinary.”

Mr Keith said: “The diaries of Sir Patrick Vallance speak of Sage and the CMO [chief medical officer] and the CSA [chief scientific adviser] being used as human shields.”

The KC told the inquiry that “Sage was never designed to be run at such speed with such heat or for so long. It sat for over 100 meetings. In past crises, it’s met generally on no more than five occasions. “Its members worked around the clock unceasingly in the pandemic and pro bono and as you know, they were placed on sustained and also unfair media scrutiny and increasingly attack.”

Mr Keith also revealed that Professor David Halpern, the director of the government’s Behavioural Insights Team – which was also known as the “Nudge Unit” – became “increasingly concerned regarding Sage and the readiness of the UK government”.

This was because Sage did not have “clear operational advice … a role of course that it was not permitted to perform” and he was also concerned at the government’s “apparent failure to take clear proactive steps”, Mr Keith said.

At a Sage meeting on 13 March, 2020, Mr Keith said, Professor Halpern wrote in his notebook “we are not ready”. Mr Keith added: “A No 10 adviser, equally concerned, leaned over, crossed out ‘not ready’ and wrote ‘f***ed’.”

Mr Keith did not reveal whether that adviser was Mr Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, who regularly attended Sage meetings, or another No 10 official.