Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
Former Prime Minister David Cameron testified from the UK (PA) Covid-19 Inquiry
The former Conservative prime minister told British inquiry into covid-19 on Monday that “many consequences” stem from the focus on pandemic flu more than other respiratory illnesses.
Cameron publicly defended the programme of austerity cuts under his leadership between 2010 and 2016, which doctors and unions accused of leaving the NHS in an “alarming state”.
In a reading of the consultation, Chancellor George Osborne argued that the technique adopted in the wake of the 2008 currency crisis “has had a positive and dramatic effect on the UK’s ability to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Cameron faced a series of interruptions, adding “What a shame” when he dropped out of the investigation after being the first to be questioned.
Testifying under oath, he said the time he spent focusing on the flu contingency making plans was “what I keep remembering” when contemplating the “horrors of the covid pandemic. “
“I think it’s a mistake not to look more at the diversity of other types of pandemics,” Cameron said.
He added: “Much more time has been spent on pandemic influenza and pandemic influenza risks than on potential pandemics of other, more respiratory diseases, such as covid turned out.
“And, you know, I think it’s so vital because it has so many consequences. “
He said he had “struggled” with the issue, adding: “But why wasn’t more time and more questions asked about what the pandemic we are facing would be?
“It is very complicated to answer why this is the case. And I’m sure this public inquiry will spend a lot of time on that. “
Cameron asked about his own warning in 2015 that the Ebola outbreak was a “wake-up call” about the emergence of a virus that was “more competitive and harder to contain. “
He said his government had looked at pandemics rather than influenza, such as Mers and Sars.
“So I think it’s not a failure; I think the fault is not asking more questions about asymptomatic, highly contagious transmission. . . which turned out to be the pandemic we had,” he added.
He said the evidence from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who was health secretary under Jeremy Hunt. Cameron says Hong Kong requires three months of private protective equipment (PPE) for each hospital.
Cameron said he had never been asked for an investment to meet that requirement, adding: “If they had asked me, we would have given it, it’s cheap, it’s not a massive commitment. “
In his written statement, issued after his oral testimony, Mr Cameron criticised incoming Conservative governments for merging the roles of cabinet secretary and national security adviser, as well as abolishing a committee tasked with the UK for a pandemic.
Boris Johnson reportedly got rid of the National Security Council’s Threats, Dangers, Resilience and Contingency Committee when he entered No. 10.
Cameron wrote: “Based on the data I obtained when I was prime minister, and the delight I had in receiving data and reports from the Committee, and given its ongoing paintings, this is not a resolution I would have taken before 2016. “
In his testimony, he insisted there was no small economy planning for a pandemic and claimed that making plans for school closures had never been discussed during his tenure.
“The licensing program came here very quickly, very boldly and made a huge difference, and it was imaginable because we had the monetary capacity to do it,” he said.
Cameron insisted that having the “additional ability to suddenly borrow” a significant component of the national revenue stream “was very much on my mind when we drew up the plan to reduce the budget deficit. “
He denied that budget cuts have led to a depleted fitness service, arguing that it is “absolutely imperative to get the UK economy and public finances back in shape to be able to cope with a long-term crisis. “
Cameron added: “I mean, Greece and Spain have had a lot more austerity, brutal cuts and yet their life expectancy has increased. So I don’t think it will continue. “
The British Medical Association, which represents doctors, blamed M. Cameron and his ministers for allowing the NHS into a “precarious state”.
Ahead of the hearing, council chairman Professor Philip Banfield wrote: “I have noticed first-hand the pain of years of austerity and the lack of priority in the health of the nation.
“The UK got serious when Covid took hold and proved disastrous, for the doctors I constitute and the millions of others who have suffered at the hands of the virus. “
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said austerity is a “political choice” that left the UK “extremely exposed to the pandemic”.
After Cameron’s testimony, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak accused him of “denying the enormous damage caused by his austerity policies. “
Sir Chris Wormald, who has been the Department of Health and Social Care’s most sensible official since 2016, told the consultation that the strategy against the flu pandemic had not been updated since it was published in 2011.
“This is one of the workspaces that we disrupted when we were very particularly faced with the consequences of a no-deal Brexit,” he said.
About 70 of his aides have been assigned to make plans in case Britain leaves the European Union without a deal in place.
Sir Chris also said there had been no mass quarantine in the planning.
The secretary said, “Not in the context of a pandemic. “
The inquiry heard from a witness from Sir Oliver Letwin, who served as Cabinet Minister from 2010 to 2016 and was guilty of resilience under Mr Oliver Letwin.
Sir Oliver said that “in retrospect” it would possibly “seem surprising” if his critics did not cover the reaction to the UK influenza pandemic.
“However, I now know that it would have been helpful for me to have examined the dangers of pandemic influenza myself,” he said.
Cameron was questioned through lawyer Kate Blackwell KC and lead lawyer Hugo Keith, who said he knew the former prime minister.
The first phase of the UK Covid-19 survey examines whether the UK is sufficiently prepared for the pandemic.
On Tuesday, Mr Osborne and Sir Oliver will testify at the inquest. Mr Hunt is on Wednesday, as is Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden.
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