UK’s top civil servant said government looked like ‘tragic joke’ during pandemic

Simon Case (centre left), as permanent secretary to 10 Downing Street before his appointment as head of the civil service, also wrote to colleagues: ‘I cannot cope with this I cannot cope with this’. Photograph: Getty Images

The UK’s most senior civil servant, Simon Case, described the government as looking like a “terrible, tragic joke” in its handling of the Covid pandemic in expletive-laden WhatsApp messages handed to the Covid inquiry.

The messages – which are likely to prompt questions over Case’s professionalism – also lamented that Boris Johnson’s wife, Carrie, appeared to be “the real person in charge” at Downing Street.