‘We failed’: Dominic Cummings’s evidence, as it happened

Dominic Cummings has given evidence to a joint meeting of the science and technology select committees about the government’s response to Covid-19. Below is how the bombshell session unfolded.

The top lines: 

• Cummings said the government’s response to Covid-19 meant that ‘tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die’. (14:12)
• Matt Hancock ‘categorically told’ No. 10 he would test those discharged from hospital into care homes. Hancock failed to do so, according to Cummings: ‘It was complete nonsense’. (13:15)
• Boris Johnson initially dismissed Covid as a ‘scare story’, comparing it to swine flu. (09:53)
• Cummings said he moved his family to Durham because of security threats. (13:42)
• The former aide says he should have resigned in September due to disagreements over Covid policy. (13:52)
• The Health Secretary should have been ‘fired for at least 15 to 20’ different things. (10:57)
• The cabinet secretary warned the Prime Minister that the British system of government couldn’t deal with a secretary of state who repeatedly lies in meetings.