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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
National
Sam Hall

Wednesday evening news briefing: Whitty and Vallance raised concerns about shielding

Evening Briefing logo
Evening Briefing logo

Good evening. In the latest instalment of The Lockdown Files, we can disclose that the Government’s most senior scientific advisers told the prime minister that implementation of shielding measures was not “very effective” – but ministers still asked 2.2 million people to follow them for months.

Evening briefing: Today's essential headlines

Royals | The King has asked the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to move out of Frogmore Cottage for good to allow Prince Andrew to move in, The Telegraph understands. Talks between Buckingham Palace and the couple are understood to have been going on for some time, but have picked up pace recently.

Shielding implementation not 'easy or very effective'

The Lockdown Files reveal that Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Adviser, said in a WhatsApp message in August 2020 that shielding implementation – which required people who were clinically “extremely vulnerable” to isolate – had not been “easy or very effective”

Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, added that he would personally “think twice” about following shielding guidelines himself, unless it was to protect the NHS – which was not their principal aim. 

Boris Johnson himself raised the prospect of giving over-65s "a choice" between shielding from the virus or taking what he hoped would be an "ever-diminishing risk" of living a more normal life

The then prime minister compared over-65s' risk of dying from Covid to that of "falling down stairs", adding: "And we don’t stop older people from using stairs." 

But, despite reservations, the Government still reintroduced shielding nationally during subsequent national lockdowns. 

In the worst-affected parts of the country that were placed under local lockdowns and stricter restrictions under the tiers system, many effectively shielded for most of the pandemic. 

The Lockdown Files also reveal that face masks were introduced in schools for the first time after Mr Johnson was told it was "not worth an argument” with Nicola Sturgeon over the issue - you can explore the latest revelations from the files here.

Downing Street defended ministers using WhatsApp to conduct Government business, arguing it is “part and parcel of modern government”. 

The way in which ministers communicate with each other is under intense scrutiny following the publication of The Lockdown Files. 

A trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent to and from Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, were handed to this newspaper amid concerns about the speed and scope of the official inquiry. No 10 said at lunchtime that ministers using WhatsApp is “not unusual”. 

Tom Harris writes that The Lockdown Files have thrown Westminster into a state of panic.

Inquiry calls on whistleblowers to hand over messages

The Covid-19 Inquiry has called on whistleblowers to hand over WhatsApp messages as evidence following the publication of The Lockdown Files. 

Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist and co-author of Mr Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries book, released the messages to The Telegraph as she believed the inquiry may become a “whitewash”, and that the public “may have to wait many years before [the inquiry] reaches any conclusions”. 

During a preliminary hearing on Wednesday - examining core political and administrative decision making during the pandemic - Hugo Keith KC, counsel for the inquiry, called for the public to hand over information relevant to the probe.

Starmer says Covid inquiry must report this year

Sir Keir Starmer said the formal inquiry into the Government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic must report by the end of this year following the publication of The Lockdown Files

The Labour leader asked Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister’s Questions for an assurance that there would be “no more delays” to the inquiry as he said the “country deserves better”. 

Sir Keir said: "I don't want to finish this session without asking about the Covid disclosures in today's Daily Telegraph. We don't know the truth of what happened yet, there are too many messages and too many unknowns."

Comment and analysis

World news: Greta Thunberg detained at protest

Norwegian police briefly detained climate activist Greta Thunberg after she joined in a protest against the country's largest onshore wind farm, Jorg Luyken reports. The founder of the Fridays for Future climate movement was carried away from the entrance to the finance ministry in Oslo on Tuesday, where she was protesting in solidarity with Norway's indigenous Sami population.

Interview of the day

Tracy-Ann Oberman: ‘I was caught in the 2004 tsunami – it was like a nuclear bomb had gone off’

The actress and playwright, 56, discusses giant teddy bears, the genius of Mel Brooks and the best thing about England

Read the interview

Sport news: Brilliant Malan century rescues England

Some may see this tour, starting barely more than 24 hours after the extraordinary Test in Wellington ended, as an unwanted symptom of England’s bloated schedule. However, Will Macpherson, in Dhaka, writes that England’s brain’s trust are unlikely to agree; as the first ODI proved, it should provide perfect preparation for a World Cup in India later this year.

Editor's choice

Thailand | On the road with the armed ‘motorbike midwives’ delivering Bangkok’s babies

DNA | I was fathered by a super sperm donor – and I might have hundreds of siblings

Film | From the stripper to the slap: the worst moments in Oscars history

Business news: John Lewis puts golf course up for sale

A golf course owned by the John Lewis Partnership for almost a century has been put up for sale as the department store owner battles to cut costs. The Winter Hill Golf Club in Cookham, Maidenhead, said it was in advanced talks with John Lewis over a sale of the site. John Lewis told staff this week that it would be shutting the site by the end of April, with plans to sell the course, the clubhouse and two residential properties.

Tonight starts now

If you want to update your wardrobe classics, borrow these seven handy tips from the Italians | Italian women learn to identify their style codes early on and rarely deviate from them – but are constantly alert to valuable small tweaks.

Three things for you

And finally... for this evening's downtime

How the Victorians tried to cancel Britain’s greatest cartoonists | The likes of Gillray and Rowlandson changed history with satire – then puritans tried to erase them from it. Is it time for a renaissance?

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