Sunak would have put ‘enormous pressure’ on Johnson – Covid inquiry

Rishi Sunak would have put “enormous pressure” on Boris Johnson not to have an autumn lockdown – while school closures could have been avoided, the Covid inquiry has been told.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock was questioned by Hugo Keith KC over the tier system for managing Covid spread and the point it was decided a second national lockdown was needed in 2020.

He expressed the view that, with hindsight, schools may not have needed to close in January 2021 if action had been taken to control virus spread much earlier.

A WhatsApp exchange from October 2020 between Mr Hancock and Cabinet Secretary showed how Mr Hancock was pressing for information from a meeting on October