Rishi Sunak arrives to face eight-hour grilling at Covid inquiry as he walks tightrope on make-or-break week
EMBATTLED Rishi Sunak has arrived at the Covid Inquiry where he will face an eight-hour grilling about his actions during the pandemic.
The inquiry will see the under-fire PM face allegations his controversial Eat Out to Help Out scheme boosted the spread of coronavirus.
He will also be asked awkward questions over text messages that revealed Government scientists dubbed him “Dr Death, the Chancellor.
The interrogation kicks off a bombshell week for Mr Sunak, as he also faces a do-or-die vote on his Rwanda plan on Tuesday.
And while he is questioned by Hugo Keith KC today and away from his phone, five groups of Tory MPs will listen to the verdict of the veteran Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash’s so-called star chamber of lawyers that have assessed the proposed legislation on Rwanda.
Speaking to Sky News before the PM’s appearance at the Covid inquiry, Cabinet ally Grant Shapps defended the PM’s response during the pandemic.
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The Defence Secretary told Sky news: “Rishi Sunak, who came forward and saved millions of jobs and millions of businesses through his Covid response is actually due a lot of credit.
“Millions of businesses would have gone bust, millions of people would have been out of work if it hadn’t been for his furlough scheme and schemes like Eat Out to Help Out, it’s so easy to look back on things and say, oh, what you should have done is this…
“But these were difficult decisions that were being made to stop businesses from going bust. And that in itself would have been a real problem
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove also defended Mr Sunak on Sunday as he argued the Eat Out to Help Out scheme was “effective”.
Professor Sir Chris Whitby, England’s chief medical officer, is said to have privately referred to the scheme as “eat out to help out the virus”.
The Covid-19 Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, is a comprehensive public investigation into the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Its aim is to scrutinise the UK’s public health, healthcare, and economic responses to the pandemic, and to learn from these actions for future preparedness.
This includes a wide-ranging examination across several modules, such as government decision-making, healthcare system impacts, and the development of vaccines.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was PM during the pandemic, was cross-examined for two days last week, as he sought to defend his record.