'Too little, too late': report condemns No 10 handling of Covid pandemic

Johnson and his team, notably his adviser Dominic Cummings, who is described as central to a "culture of fear" inside No 10. The report also targets the three devolved governments and scientific advisers.

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"The inquiry finds that the response of the four governments repeatedly amounted to a case of 'too little, too late'," it reads. "The failure to appreciate the scale of the threat, or the urgency of response it demanded, meant that by the time the possibility of a mandatory lockdown was first considered it was already too late and a lockdown had become unavoidable."

Many of the same mistakes - reacting too slowly and underestimating the speed and impact of Covid's spread - were then repeated later in 2020, as restrictions were lifted and then belatedly reimposed in the face of infectious new strains, the report adds, calling this "inexcusable".

Other findings included:

• Strong criticism of Chris Wormald, who was the head civil servant at the health department and is now the prime minister Keir Starmer's cabinet secretary. It said he had failed to properly look into widespread doubts about the then health secretary Matt Hancock's effectiveness.

• That while lockdowns had been needed, they had left "lasting scars" on society, particularly for children.

• If ministers had acted swiftly with other measures to curb the spread of the virus, a complete lockdown might have been avoided or been shorter.