Did the government ‘ignore warnings’ about coronavirus? The evidence is weak

Boris Johnson has been accused of failings that ‘may have cost thousands of lives’. But does the charge stand up to scrutiny? Asks John Rentoul

Boris Johnson is accused of missing five Cobra meetings in January and February (Andrew Parsons-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock “ignored warnings from scientists and lost a crucial five weeks in the fight to tackle the coronavirus”, claimed The Sunday Times. This is a serious allegation, of failings that the newspaper said “may have cost thousands of lives”, and it goes with the grain of public opinion, which supports the government’s measures but thinks they should have happened sooner.

But is it true? Ministers were certainly furious about it, and Hancock posted a point-by-point response on his department’s website. This was unusual enough, but what was striking was the tone of this document, which read in parts like an angry blog or a Twitter thread.

Rather than letting the facts speak for themselves, it adds opinions: “At a very basic level, this is wrong”, “that is plainly untrue”, and “it is ridiculous to suggest ...”. In the style of a keyboard warrior up at 3am because someone is wrong on the internet, it demanded to know whether The Sunday Times’s anonymous source was a Downing Street adviser or an adviser to Downing Street. “Which is it?”