Four flashpoints from Cummings’ Covid Inquiry appearance

Today it was the turn of the Vote Leave gang to appear before the Covid Inquiry. And while Lee Cain, Boris Johnson’s onetime director of comms, gave a fairly sober appearance this morning, the arrival of Dominic Cummings produced the expectant headlines. Much of Cummings’ evidence today had first been revealed two-and-a-half years ago during his mammoth nine hour session before a special parliamentary select committee. But there were fresh messages and tense exchanges for the attendant hacks to chew over and fill tomorrow’s newspapers. Below are four flashpoints from today’s Covid Inquiry evidence session.

X-rated language

One of the first questions was for Cummings to explain his texts, published this morning, that branded Johnson’s cabinet ‘fuck pigs,’ ‘morons’ and ‘cunts.’ He said that, er, if anything, the language understated the problem: ‘I was reflecting a widespread view amongst competent people at the centre of power at the time about the caliber of people.’