It was when the Covid-19 public inquiry’s lead counsel flashed up an organisation chart of the UK’s pre-pandemic preparedness structures that everyone packed into the west London hearing rooms realised the scale of the task ahead.
At the top of the slide dating from August 2019 was the Cabinet Office and in the middle was the Department of Health and Social Care, but beyond that was a dizzying tangle of dotted lines, multi-coloured arrows and unfathomable acronyms – more than 100 different bodies and all apparently with a role protecting Britain from deadly viruses.
