Thread by @fascinatorfun

18 March 2020 : One insider says: "People were dropping like flies."

The prime minister, however, was acting as though he was impervious to the risk. He had developed a habit of banging his own chest, telling staff he was "strong as a bull".
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

“Soon, though, this chest-banging turned into "extreme coughing fits" and TV messages had to be retaken multiple times.

One Official said “We were more blind than we told the public," and suggests that is still the case one year on.

At least if they admit openly they are flying blind there is more hope that the precautionary principle would be applied and a plan to clear seeing developed, building trust.

It is hubris, over confidence and recklessness that is the killer - literally in this case

This article fills in some of the behind the scenes disagreements leading to the first lockdown, including Johnson going off message - deliberately.

Then the Cummings affair

“I was busy chopping logs with my chain saw to get the frustration out” said one Minister.

The summer of hubris typified by Eat Out To Help Out and the likes of Isabel Oakeshott with her regular bleat as on the 2nd August “2 dead- Isn’t the pandemic over?”

And a see sawing PM. Concern the virus would return then the Gupta/ Heneghan pull of “let it rip”

By the middle of September, "the data was already screaming out", one insider says. On the 17th, I was told by one source: "If you do nothing now, by the end of October you will get something worse than the first wave."

Some pressing for lockdown - others against

The prime minister was unpersuaded, and followed the route urged by Heneghan and Gupta and maybe Tegnell.

And that WAS HIS FAULT and the fault of all those who sought to persuade him to go with them.

They all bear responsibility, but finally it was his.

Catastrophically bad