I fear we are witnessing a Covid cover-up

We all deserve pandemic answers – the person with cancer now incurable because of unjustified delays, the single mum trapped in a tiny flat over a hot summer with three young children, the families forced to say their final goodbye to loved ones over a mobile phone and the educational opportunities lost by a bright child from a poor family who didn’t own a computer.

It was all so unspeakably cruel, but was it a necessary evil to save lives? That’s the central question to the whole convoluted inquiry. It’s one I fear that will not be capable of producing a fair and unbiased response from an establishment which pushed lockdowns, social distancing, mask wearing and disinfection at every available opportunity. Men with high-vis jackets and clipboards sprung up from nowhere. Who really ordered all this and was it ever necessary?

I fear that we are seeing the beginnings of a great Covid cover-up, a disastrous whitewash – despite the venerable efforts of Baroness Heather Hallett – with history being rewritten in front of our very eyes. Politicians are desperate to save their own skin, brandishing their anti-lockdown credentials at every possible opportunity. That should tell us which way the political winds are blowing. Many are toast already, so why do they care?

All messages, all emails and all correspondence must be handed over. From the politicians, the scientists and the civil servants involved in making decisions which affected every single man, woman, and child on these islands. I would make it all public, redacting only the most sensitive pieces of information pertaining to national security or an individual’s medical history. We’ve already peeped behind the curtain at Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages, and what we saw was very ugly. A weak and over-promoted politician who at times seemed more interested in his own personal perception than actual public health policy.

His nauseating use of love as an excuse for his hypocritical actions is detestable, although not as consequential as his apparent refusal to accept the level of damage inflicted by his disastrous decision making. It’s certainly not hindsight to say so, considering the objections made very public at the time by myself and others. Politicians are the servants of the people. They are in the position of power because they were entrusted with that through the democratic process. They are not omnipotent celestial beings with some sort of divine right to rule. And they are certainly not immune from taking responsibility for their actions.

Who knows where, when, and how the next pandemic will come. That’s why an open discussion is so crucial. If a mystery outbreak does occur, the pro-lockdown brigade will leap into action demanding harder and faster restrictions. They will be well-organised, well-funded and well-prepared. What will the response be? Will a government, blue or red, be brave enough to prevent the same mistakes from happening again? I’m doubtful, at best.

This is an important point: it was never our lockdown or nothing at all. It’s how proponents of communist restrictions want to paint it, so don’t let them. There was a third way: letting the people decide for themselves. Based on evidence-based advice and well-funded support for those who needed it, helping the vulnerable stay away from risky places. Trusting families to take the decisions for their own health, not partying Whitehall bureaucrats. Those that promoted this policy were silenced. Distinguished Oxford Professors Carl Heneghan and Sunetra Gupta were outrageously abused online and pilloried in the media, despite being on the right side of history.

Never forget, we were hours away from being plunged into an unnecessary and destructive Omicron lockdown over the Christmas of 2021. The fear propaganda machine was in overdrive. I really don’t think people know how close it was. Rishi Sunak deserves credit for helping to prevent that. And perhaps now the Prime Minister’s involvement will lead to a greater degree of interrogation and transparency. I suspect his private correspondence airing lockdown concerns will have aged far better than those of many of his colleagues. 

Still, I fear that the inquiry may not overcome the force of a pro-lockdown establishment closing ranks to protect itself. The best we may be able to do is pull our own truths from the wreckage. Personally, I’d like to hear evidence from the objectors and how badly they were treated and by whom.

I sincerely hope that Baroness Hallett can prove me wrong. Not for personal vindication, but so that those most affected by lockdown salvage some peace of mind from his whole sorry affair. My advice to her would be to question everything, especially the so-called science. We all deserve answers and full transparency – starting with everything being handed over in the public interest. After all, history tends to repeat itself.