Pete Weatherby KC criticised the Government’s preparation, approach, and handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in his opening submission to Module 2 of the Covid Inquiry.
The second phase of the UK's Covid-19 inquiry is now underway, with Module 2’s evidential hearings beginning on 3 October, aiming to establish how effective the UK government's leadership and decision making was in controlling and restricting the virus.
As in Module 1, Pete again highlighted the lack of a whole-system response and the impact that may have had on increasing the total number of deaths including the 7,000 members of the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group that his team and Broudie Jackson Canter represents.
Pete highlighted the shortcomings of the then Government, as he called out their ‘incompetence’ including the ‘indecision, dithering and delay’. He also pointed to evidence suggesting that the looming pandemic was not prioritised, with the Government instead focussed on Brexit.
The KC said: “What was needed was a dynamic and proactive government response - there was a fixation on Brexit to the exclusion of anything else and erratic, ill-informed interference from Number 10. Those are his [Lord Bethell's] words, not mine.
"It amounts to dither, delay, indecision, denial, bluster and above all, a lack of leadership."
He continued as he added that the stories from the bereaved, whom he represents, “show how these failures really impacted.”
During Module 2, the Inquiry will hear from former Government members including the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson who Pete suggested will try to paint a rose-tinted account of the pandemic. However, Pete said that the 7,000 families he represents provide 230,000 reasons why Mr Johnson's “we didn’t do too badly” opening gambit should be rejected.
Pete Weatherby KC and Anna Morris KC lead the team representing the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice UK group in Module 2 of the Inquiry. Also on the team are Garden Court North’s Kate Stone, Ciara Bartlam, Mira Hammad, Christian Weaver, Lily Lewis, Allison Munroe KC (Modules 1 and 3) and Thalia Maragh as well as Jesse Nicholls from Matrix Chambers, Oliver Lewis from Doughty Street Chambers and Tom Jones from Deka Chambers. The team is instructed by Elkan Abrahamson, Nicola Brook, and Emma Beckett of Broudie Jackson Canter.