Then prime minister Boris Johnson described former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson’s plans for schools during the pandemic as “probably feeble”, the Covid inquiry has heard.
A senior civil servant also suggested that Sir Gavin was given an “illusion of ownership” in an apparent lack of confidence in his ability, according to personal notes taken by the government’s former chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
In evidence shared at the Covid inquiry, an entry from Sir Patrick’s diary on 11 June 2020 references senior civil servant Jonathan Slater, who was then permanent secretary at the Department for Education.
The entry says: “Slater basically described keeping Gavin Williamson away from policy development but give him an illusion ownership ‘but not his area and not his expertise’.”
“‘I don’t know what Gavin’s plan for schools is but probably pretty feeble’ - PM,” Mr Vallance wrote.
Sir Patrick confirmed to the inquiry that he was directly quoting Mr Johnson.
In response to the pandemic, school buildings closed to most pupils between March and September 2020, and some teaching took place online, with children to key worker parents and disadvantaged pupils still able to attend in person.
The Covid inquiry also heard that, in August 2020, Mr Johnson did not want to hear about plans for failure, and just wanted children back to school in September, without Covid being used as an “excuse”.
On 6 August 2020, Sir Patrick wrote in his notebook: “PM Covid (S) meeting on schools: ‘Don’t want to hear about plan B and C for failure. I just want pupils back at school...we are no longer taking this Covid excuse stuff. Get back to school.’”
Sir Patrick also revealed that Mr Johnson was “bamboozled” by the graphs and data presented to him by scientists during the pandemic.
One entry from 4 May 2020 said: “Late afternoon meeting with the PM on schools. My God, this is complicated. Models will not provide the answer. PM is clearly bamboozled.”
Last month, the Covid inquiry was told by former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield that the decision to keep schools closed to most pupils between March and September 2020 as other parts of society were allowed to open up was a “major mistake”.
A government spokesperson said: “We have always said there are lessons to be learnt from the pandemic and we are committed to learning from the Covid inquiry’s findings which will play a key role in informing the government’s planning and preparations for the future.”
