It was always going to be a high-risk strategy to summon Martin Reynolds to give evidence to the Covid inquiry first thing on a Monday morning. Boris Johnson’s former permanent private secretary may look every inch the unassuming senior civil servant in his crisp grey suit, but scratch the surface and there’s a total beast lurking. “Party Marty”. The “Karaoke King”. The last man standing on any dancefloor. One pill makes him larger, one pill makes him small. And the ones his mother gives him don’t do anything at all. The only good weekend is a lost weekend.
But Party Marty just about made it to the witness box in time to mumble his name and take the oath. It helps to have partied hard if there’s a great deal you would rather forget. If you can remember what happened in No 10 during lockdown then you probably weren’t there. The lead counsel for the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, wasn’t in a particularly forgiving mood. Time and again he had to prevent his witness from rambling incoherently. No wonder the session went well over the time allotted to it.
