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Covid inquiry told of sexism, ‘presenteeism’ and ‘macho posturing’ in No.10 [1]
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Date: 2023-11
Downing Street suffered from a “toxic culture” of sexism, “presenteeism” and “macho posturing” in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the UK’s Covid inquiry heard today.
According to Helen MacNamara, the government’s deputy cabinet secretary until 2021, key figures in Whitehall presided over an environment in which junior women were “talked over or ignored”.
But despite the “breezy confidence” frequently on show from senior figures, her evidence to the inquiry painted a picture of a workplace in which key regulations and guidelines were ignored.
“I would find it hard to pick one day when the regulations were followed properly inside that building,” she told inquiry counsel Andrew O’Connor KC.
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“When the police drew the line of what was acceptable or not acceptable [regarding the infamous gathering in June 2020 to mark Boris Johnson’s birthday], I am certain that there are hundreds of civil servants and potentially ministers who, in retrospect, think they were the wrong side of that line.
“I really hope there’s been some mature conversation about that, because that sort of thing – if it’s not addressed – it is corrosive in [an organisation’s] culture.”
Concerns were also raised over a culture of “presenteeism” in Downing Street, despite official ‘work from home’ guidance that the government itself had put in place.
The inquiry is now 16 days into its second module, which focuses on the government’s response in the early stages of the pandemic.
According to MacNamara’s evidence, she was just one of several top figures in Downing Street to contract Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic.
Despite the virus appearing to run rampant through the corridors of power, it was not until seven months after the beginning of the pandemic that a hand sanitiser station was finally installed at the link door between Number 10 and the Cabinet Office.
Among those who also became ill with the virus at about the same time as MacNamara was Dominic Cummings, a close adviser to then-PM Boris Johnson.
Cummings’s misogynistic WhatsApp messages about MacNamara, in which he referred to her as a “c**t”, were read out to the inquiry yesterday.
Asked about the messages, MacNamara said it was “horrible to read, but it is both surprising and not surprising”.
She also described returning to work after her bout of Covid-19 and noting an “absence of humanity” in some key decisions taken regarding pandemic planning for prisoners and prison staff.
She told the inquiry: “It just felt very, very cold, in terms of the decision making.”
The conduct of then health secretary Matt Hancock was also raised, with MacNamara noting a “pattern of being reassured that something was absolutely fine and then discovering it was very, very far from fine".
Issues with Hancock’s handling of the pandemic have also been raised previously in the inquiry.
Yesterday’s hearing also heard allegations that Johnson thought Covid was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”.
The inquiry continues. openDemocracy is fundraising to pay reporters to cover every day of the public hearings. Please support us by donating here.
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https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/covid-inquiry-downing-street-toxic-culture-macho-sexism-dominic-cummings-boris-johnson/
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