A former top civil servant criticised by Dominic Cummings in expletive-laden WhatsApp messages said they were "horrible to read".
Helen MacNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary, is appearing before the Covid-19 Inquiry.
It was revealed to the inquiry on Tuesday that Mr Cummings had labelled Ms MacNamara "that c***" and said he would "handcuff her and escort her" from Downing Street.
"I don’t care how it's done but that woman must be out of our hair – we cannot keep dealing with this horrific meltdown of the British state while dodging stilettos from that c***," he wrote.
On Wednesday Ms MacNamara responded: "It's horrible to read, and both surprising and not surprising to me, I don’t know which is worse."
She said it was "disappointing" Boris Johnson, then as prime minister, didn’t pull Mr Cummings up on his "violent and misogynistic language".
She added that women in Number 10 and Cabinet Office felt they became "invisible overnight" during the pandemic.
