UK Covid Inquiry: Jason Leitch's WhatsApp messages show the human side of the Scottish Government's pandemic response - warts and all

Professor Leitch's WhatsApp messages show the human side of the Scottish Government's pandemic response – warts and all – writes The Scotsman’s health correspondent Joseph Anderson.

The running theme of the UK Covid Inquiry revelations so far has been that behind the politically-managed personas and media appearances, the decision makers and advisers at the heart of the pandemic response were very human - warts and all.

Politicians spoke frankly and were unguarded in personal WhatsApps, while scientific advisers made jokes. And more than few people admitted to being confused by the science behind the pandemic and the sometimes contradictory nature of social distancing rules.

During an evidence gathering session of the UK Covid Inquiry last week, a message from Prof Leitch was shown to the inquiry in which he said deleting WhatsApp messages was a “bed-time ritual”.

The National Clinical Director for the Scottish Government, Professor Jason Leitch

However, Prof Leitch has defended himself, by saying this was a “flippant exaggeration” made by himself in the context of a private WhatsApp group.

He told the inquiry: “I didn’t daily delete my WhatsApp. My position is – as I have just described to you – that I tried to do today’s work today and if I could assure myself that work had been managed and dealt with, then I would delete the informal messaging that had led to that moment.

“But this was a flippant exaggeration in an informal messaging group and it wasn’t done every day before I went to bed.”

In a WhatsApp exchange from November 2021 between Prof Leitch and Humza Yousaf – then health secretary – at the inquiry, the minister asked about masking rules ahead of an event he was attending.

At the time, Covid rules in Scotland meant someone would not have to wear a mask while they were sitting down to eat or drink, but would if they were moving around a bar or restaurant while not drinking.

“Have a drink in your hands at ALL times. Then you’re exempt,” Prof Leitch wrote. “So if someone comes over and you stand, lift your drink.”

Again Prof Leitch defended himself at the inquiry. “That follows the rules,” the national clinical director said. “If he has a drink and it’s a drinks reception-type environment, then that follows the rules.

“I gave him advice to show him how to comply.”

Is this just another unguarded conversation that under a microscope, and viewed years after the fact, could be blown out of proportion – and no doubt will be in some of today’s newspaper headlines.

Well imagine if your personal messages were leaked to the world tomorrow – would you come in for criticism? Chances are, yes.

There is a difference, though. The average person making jokes and being “flippant” in private WhatsApps isn’t advising an entire country’s response to a global pandemic that killed around three million people in 2020 alone.

Public servants have to carry the dignity and gravitas they are supposed to show in public into their private lives too.

No one is a saint, and the world has moved on from scandals involving politicians’ private lives, but it could fairly be said the least we could ask is that when discussing our lives, and health, they give the subject the weight it demands.