Thread by @C4Dispatches

Second Wave: Did the Government Get it Wrong?

Two thirds of UK Covid deaths happened since September. #Dispatches charts the rise of the second wave & examines the extent to which the Prime Minister decisions could be blamed for those tragic deaths.

Tonight, 10pm on @Channel4

@Channel4 Boris Johnson was advised in September by government scientific advisors to enforce a two week lockdown.

But the PM went on to seek advice from three outside scientists known to be lockdown sceptics. The most controversial of them has agreed to speak to us.

@Channel4 “That was disastrous. There’s no doubt that caused thousands of extra deaths.”

Despite being warned the new Kent variant of Covid was 70% more transmissible, Boris Johnson was insistent on not cancelling Christmas 2020. Did his delay in imposing a full lockdown cost lives?

@Channel4 The Kent Variant of Covid was discovered just days after the UK prime minister decided against a national lockdown in September. It was 2 more months before we discovered how deadly it was.

If the PM had acted in September would the Kent variant have spread & been so lethal?

@Channel4 “The general feeling was that the procedures were a complete joke.”

With holidays abroad allowed again, a senior border force officer for Heathrow airport explains how last summer the “robust” policy put in place by the government to address imported Covid cases did not work.

@Channel4 The government told #Dispatches its immediate focus is on ending the pandemic.

Boris Johnson has announced that a public inquiry will start next year into his government’s handling of the pandemic.

@Channel4 WATCH - Second Wave: Did the Government Get it Wrong? Tonight at 10pm on @Channel4 #Dispatches