Chris Whitty referred to ‘Eat out to help out’ as ‘Eat out to help out the virus’, UK Covid inquiry told – as it happened

Rishi Sunak placing an Eat Out to Help Out sticker in the window of a business in August 2020. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA

6.11pm GMT

Early evening summary

• Boris Johnson had a 10-day break in February 2020 during which he appeared to receive no messages from his team at No 10 about coronavirus, the Covid inquiry heard today. The claim was made by Hugo Keith KC, counsel for the inquiry, and it was not denied by Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private secretary at the time. (See 12.43pm.) Reynolds was giving evidence for most of the day and, although he seemed reluctant to criticise Johnson strongly, he did not say anything that countered the claim that Johnson was unduly complacent about the risk of Covid in January, February and early March 2020. Reynolds suggested that Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, who is giving evidence tomorrow, was to blame for some of the dysfunctionality in No 10. (See 11.33am.) Reynolds also said he could not remember why he turned on the disappearing function for messages in a No 10 WhatsApp group shortly before the Covid inquiry was announced (see 11.08am) and, after being pressed repeatedly by Keith, he eventually admitted No 10 did not have a proper plan for Covid in place by early March 2020 (see 12.55pm). During the hearing private WhatsApp messages not previously published were disclosed confirming that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, was driven to despair by Johnson’s dithering. (See 2.15pm and 3.05pm.) Imran Shafi, a more junior private secretary working for Johnson at the time, also gave evidence, and he said No 10 should have spent every day in February working on a detailed Covid plan. (See 3.58pm.) The inquiry heard that in March, shortly before the full lockdown was announced, in a meeting between Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor, one of the participants asked what was the point of having an economy-destorying lockdown “for people who will die anyway soon”. Asked who had used the phrase, Shafi said he was not sure, but thought it had been Johnson. (See 4.35pm.)

• Downing Street has insisted Rishi Sunak is not being snubbed by other world leaders, despite many of them not being expected to attend his summit on artificial intelligence at Bletchley Park this week.

• Child asylum seekers are being forced to share hotel rooms with adults, as the Home Office’s new hotel “maximisation” programme begins doubling the capacity of refugee hotels by putting two strangers in roomsspaces that were previously single occupancy, a charity has warned.

• Up to 3 million British citizens living overseas for more than 15 years are set to be able to vote in the next general election.

5.45pm GMT

Braveman describes pro-Palestinian demonstrations as 'hate marches'

Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has said that she views the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have taken place in London since the Israel-Hamas war started as “hate marches”. She used the phrase in an interview with ITV News.

'To my mind there is only one way to describe those marches: they are hate marches'@SuellaBraverman labels the huge pro-Palestinian rallies which have taken place in London as 'hate marches' pic.twitter.com/08QfGmZ8L5

— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) October 30, 2023