The accusations made by Dominic Cummings during his more than seven hours in front of a joint committee of MPs were so wide-ranging and ran so deep into the heart of this Government that it is difficult to know where to start.
But we know where it must end: the independent public inquiry, currently scheduled to start in the spring of next year, must be brought forward.
This is not a trivial matter. A deadly vaccine-evading variant is a matter of “when, not if”, according to Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organisation’s special envoy on Covid-19.
Given the poor way the UK handled much of the pandemic up until the vaccine roll-out — and in particular the role of the Health Secretary in the way elderly Covid patients were sent back into care homes — we are in no position to delay the inquiry for political or any other reasons.
Not least, with an inquiry on the horizon, ministers can answer every probing question for the next year with the classic non-response: “I cannot answer as that is for the inquiry.”
The Prime Minister wants us to believe that bringing forward the inquiry would lead to vital resources being misused or somehow slow down the vaccination programme. This is nonsense.
The virus has shown a relentless ability to change and renew its attacks. We need to learn the lessons now. Indeed, Conservative MP Dr Dan Poulter has joined cross-party demands for it to launch no later than this autumn, and report within 18 months.
At a minimum, civil servants and ministers should be setting terms of reference, getting teams together and scoping what evidence they need to collect so that come the autumn, the inquiry is up and running.
Yesterday’s pantomime was no laughing matter for the family and friends of the nearly 128,000 people who have died of Covid-19 in the UK.
An inquiry cannot bring them back. But by providing real-time lessons to be learned, it can not only ensure we are better prepared for the next pandemic, it can also help make a difference to the one we are still enduring.
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