Simon Jenkins’s characterisation of the UK Covid-19 inquiry as a “pantomime” (This pantomime in Paddington is no way to right the wrongs of the Covid pandemic, 2 November) is as offensive as it is misguided. The inquiry seeks to understand and rectify the UK’s governmental decision-making process, and this cannot be achieved by a purely scientific analysis, as Mr Jenkins suggests.
One of the chief causes of the UK’s governmental dysfunction during the pandemic was the use of special advisers, a cohort of political appointees who sidelined both cabinet members and the democratic oversight of parliament. From the beginning of his administration, Boris Johnson viewed himself not as a prime minister in a cabinet with collective responsibility, but as a president, thus possessing dictatorial powers. It was therefore no surprise that he illegally prorogued parliament, purged his party of “dissenters” and refused to bow to the democratic process of his removal from office.
