In many ways, the Covid inquiry has already begun

It is inevitable that there will be a public inquiry into the government’s handling of coronavirus at the end of all this – the death toll demands it. There is, as I say in the magazine this week, an interesting question about what kind of person should chair the inquiry. Leveson was a judge, Chilcot a former civil servant—and this showed in the kind of inquiries they led. There’s a view in government that, in the words of one secretary of state, ‘a lawyer would be the worst person to chair it as they will take it down the blame route’.

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Richard Ekins

The Lady Chief Justice has no right to condemn Starmer

In many ways, the government is conducting a rolling inquiry right now. There are a number of areas where the government has changed tack during this crisis. As one source at the heart of government admits: ‘Some things have so manifestly not worked that reversing them has been an admission of failure.’