What we learnt from the Cummings evidence

From accusing Matt Hancock of criminal incompetence, to lifting the lid on the true nature of his relationship with Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings’s evidence was nothing short of explosive. Katy Balls talks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth about the highlights and what we learnt.

There were few who escaped Cummings’s censure. But in some ways, the sheer scale of alleged incompetence means that no one accusation will stick in the way that they might have done had they been made individually. James says on the podcast:

‘One consolation for those that Cummings criticised today, that his criticisms ranged so widely across the piste, that it was like drinking from a firehose trying to take away the recommendations from this’

But there was one person who Cummings repeatedly returned to – and it wasn’t the Prime Minister, or Carrie Symonds, but Matt Hancock. The accusations against the Health Secretary are listed here on Coffee House. Isabel Hardman tells the podcast that the damage will be long-lasting:

‘Whoever is the secretary of state in the Department of Health for the next few years, is going to have a real task on their hands just to right their department’s reputation again’