The Sunday Times's alarming 'sleepwalking into a pandemic' report says an inquiry into what went wrong is 'inevitable'. But we need a proper inquiry – open, impartial, with full powers and with a guarantee its report will be published. And that's not inevitable, as we know. 1/
Governments can rig these things. And they can bury them. We can't let that happen with #Covid19. We need the truth about preparedness and response – if only because we will surely face more pandemics in the future and lessons need to be learned. 2/
There is a proposal on the table for a timely, impartial, powerful public inquiry outside government control. It comes from Lord Kerslake, who chaired the Manchester Arena bombing inquiry. It needs support. Political leaders should commit to it now. 3/
The key element of the Kerslake proposal is that the choice of chair for an inquiry and the terms of reference should require cross-party approval. That way a government that is being scrutinised does not set the rules for scrutiny. All main parties must agree those rules. 4/
Equally the inquiry should be on the terms laid down in the Inquiries Act 2005, so it will have full funding, full powers and independence and its report must be published. No 'reviews', no 'internal scrutiny'. Ministers, scientists etc questioned by top lawyers on livestream. 5/
The Kerslake plan is backed by a group of leading medical scientists and cross-party members of the Lords. It needs wider public support and it needs commitment from political leaders. And it needs them now, and not after government has rewritten history and fixed the record. 6/
If you support this proposal I suggest that every time you see something on Twitter that you think shows the need for a proper, impartial inquiry you tweet back #weneedaninquiry. If you can, mention the #Kerslake proposal. 7/
The Kerslake proposal is simple. It was set out in a short letter to the Financial Times last week. That's behind their paywall but it was reported here 8/ : ft.com/content/b4bc19…
I also wrote about it for Byline Times here (thread ends): bylinetimes.com/2020/04/16/the…
