A toxic and chaotic culture at the centre of the UK government during the pandemic hindered the quality of advice and decision-making, the Covid-19 Inquiry has found.
The inquiry’s second report, on core decision-making and political governance,says the poor culture meant the quality of advice and decision-making became “inefficient” and “more difficult than it had to be”.
It also says No.10 and the Cabinet Office struggled to recruit senior leaders due to the "toxic and sexist workplace culture".
The report places most of the blame for the culture on Dominic Cummings and his boss, the then-prime minister Boris Johnson.
The inquiry said it received “cogent evidence” that Cummings, who was chief adviser to Johnson during the pandemic, “materially contributed" to the cultural issues. It said Cummings “used offensive, sexualised and misogynistic language” and “in one particularly disgraceful message” launched a misogynistic attack on deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara.
The report says Cummings had “undoubted ability” and “many qualities useful” to a prime minister, “as illustrated by his analysis of the UK’s predicament in mid-March 2020 and his commendable action in bringing about a change in government strategy”.
But it says he was a “destabilising influence” and his behaviour “contributed significantly to a culture of fear, mutual suspicion and distrust that poisoned the atmosphere” in No.10 and “undermined the authority” of the prime minister.
Simon Case told the inquiry that he had informed Johnson in the summer of 2020 – at a time when Case was the Downing Street perm sec – that Cummings was contributing to a culture of fear that was impacting the effectiveness of the support that the civil service could provide to the PM.
Case himself had displayed a “notable reluctance” to take up the No.10 post given Cummings’ behaviour, and only accepted the role on the basis that he would take instructions from Johnson and Sir Mark Sedwill and not from Cummings, the report notes.
The report says Cummings’ behaviour also “materially contributed to the departure” of Sedwill as cabinet secretary in September 2020. Johnson told the inquiry that Sedwill’s departure had not had a damaging effect on the civil service, but the report said “the evidence before the inquiry suggests otherwise”.
“His departure made some civil servants less confident to challenge others and was a distraction at a critical time in the pandemic response,” the inquiry said.
The report also noted that Cummings convinced Johnson to seek to persuade MacNamara to move to a role in another government department in the summer of 2020. McNamara was not persuaded, but this “risked causing further instability at the heart of the UK government”.
Cummings’ role in Sedwill’s departure and his attempts to exert influence over MacNamara’s role “likely contravened” the code of conduct for special advisers, which says spads “must not exercise any power in relation to the management of the civil service”, the report found.
Cummings “strayed far from the proper role” of a special adviser, the report says. While the code of conduct permits them to “convey to officials ministers’ views, instructions and priorities”, Cummings “instead sought to make key decisions in 10 Downing Street which were for the prime minister to make, or to commission work without the express authority of the prime minister". It adds that this was an arrangement that Johnson was “content” with.
The report criticises Johnson’s failure to address Cummings’ behaviour. It says he “did not seek to restrain or control” Cummings, “nor did he exercise proper leadership in rectifying the toxic and chaotic culture adversely affecting decision-making”.
Rather than instructing Cummings to modify his behaviour or considering removing him from his post, Johnson allowed him to continue in his role until Cummings resigned and departed No.10 in November 2020 “following a breakdown in their relationship”.
The report adds that Cummings “was not solely responsible” for the poor culture at the heart of the UK government, with poor behaviour also displayed by other senior leaders and advisers.
It notes an early draft of a review by MacNamara on the government’s Covid-19 response which found “bad behaviours from senior leaders” such as “crowding the ball – showboating in meetings – belittling others contributions”.
Johnson was informed of the review’s findings and provided with a copy of them in May 2020 and “was therefore well aware from an early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic response that the culture in the organisation he led was poor and was adversely impacting the effectiveness of the response”.
It says the evidence suggests that it was a culture in which louder voices prevailed and the voices of other colleagues, particularly women, were often ignored – to the clear detriment of good decision‑making.