Simon Case's worst moments at the Covid Inquiry

Amidst all the election drama and hurried campaign launches, it would be easy to forget the public inquiries taking place at present. But fear not, Mr S has gathered together the most notable parts of today’s Covid Inquiry, where Cabinet Secretary Dr Simon Case is making a rather delayed appearance after he was unable to attend last year due to illness. Let’s take a look at what he has said so far…

Bad language

Today’s hearing had barely started before Case was forced to apologise for the use of some rather, um, robust language highlighted in message exchanges where he had insulted both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, amongst other senior government figures. Solemn in his apology, the Cabinet Secretary admitted that his messages had shown ‘very raw, in-the-moment, human expressions’ — which is certainly a unique way of describing swear words. In fact, the most senior civil servant in the country made a valiant attempt to defend his bad language, arguing that explicit expressions of emotion aren’t present in more official archives: ‘The best you get is a handwritten note from Churchill in the margins.’