Boris Johnson pushed to “punish people who aren’t doing the right thing” and for “massive fines” when it came to lockdown rules, the Covid-19 inquiry has heard.
An extract from the diaries of the government’s chief scientific adviser at the time, Sir Patrick Vallance, recorded discussions he had with the then prime minister and health secretary in September 2020, when cases, admissions and deaths had all risen.
While Vallance recorded that he had argued that levels of isolation were key, the others chose to “go straight” to enforcement.
The diary reads: “PM ‘punish people who don’t self-isolate’, ‘Punish people who aren’t doing the right thing’, ‘Close some pubs and bars’, ‘We need a lot more punishments and a lot more closing down’.”
Vallance wrote that he had posted a message in the WhatsApp discussions that “support and engagement” were very important in terms of improving adherence to self-isolation rules.
He added: “PM ends with ‘Massive fines, massive fines’.”
The discussions took place just months after the prime minister had breached Covid-19 lockdown rules himself during a birthday celebration at Downing Street in June 2020, which resulted in him being fined in April 2022.
The then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Johnson’s wife, Carrie, also received fixed-penalty notices for attending a birthday gathering in No 10.
Johnson was recorded by Vallance as having said to him: “Are people actually doing the self-isolation?” and went on to say: “We must have known this wasn’t working – we have been pretending it has been, whereas secretly we know it hasn’t been.”
The then health secretary, Matt Hancock, was said to have let out “a big sigh” at this point.
The diary entries were produced during Hancock’s second and final day giving evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry.