'Little short of calamitous' Report lays bare Tories' response to crisis

"Too little too late" is the key finding of Heather Hallett's second report from the Covid public inquiry, which focused on politicians and the decisions they made during the pandemic.

- Jessica Murray

Here are the key points from the inquiry's findings:

There was chaos in No 10

The strongest criticism was directed at the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the "toxic and chaotic culture" of his government during the pandemic.

Giving evidence, the former head of the civil service Simon Case said "good people were just being smashed to pieces", while others claimed there was a sexist culture where "junior women were being talked over or ignored".

The inquiry found Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings "materially contributed to the toxic and sexist workplace culture" and "poisoned the atmosphere in 10 Downing Street", rebuking him for the "offensive, sexualised and misogynistic language" he used.

The report concluded: "As a result of the poor culture at the centre of the UK government, the quality of advice and decisionmaking suffered."

Decision-making was too slow

The report is unequivocal in its conclusions that if leaders had acted quicker, lives could have been saved.