UK Covid Inquiry: Ten revelations that we’ve learned so far from Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and Jason Leitch

The UK Covid Inquiry’s first hearings in Edinburgh have uncovered several uncomfortable truths for Scotland’s public figures. The Scotsman’s health correspondent, Joseph Anderson, looks at what we’ve learned so far.

The UK Covid Inquiry’s first hearings in Edinburgh have uncovered several revelations about how Scotland was managed during the coronavirus pandemic, from sweary outbursts to deleting WhatsApp discussions. Here’s ten things we’ve learned from the inquiry so far:

1. Nicola Sturgeon conducted Scottish Government business over WhatsApp

Both First Minister Humza Yousaf and his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon have insisted the messaging app was not routinely used to take policy decisions, with the former first minister insisting at the weekend that she conducted the Covid response “through formal processes from my office in St Andrew’s House, not through WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform”.

Jason Leitch, the National Clinical Director for Scotland, departs the UK Covid Inquiry. Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

However, the inquiry, sitting in Edinburgh, on Thursday saw messages between Sturgeon and her former chief of staff Liz Lloyd discussing how many guests to allow at weddings and funerals, which the Tories said proved “Covid decisions were unquestionably made on WhatsApp”.

The inquiry was shown messages from Lloyd’s phone where Sturgeon said she was “not sure what to” do about the number of people at weddings and funerals, to which Ms Lloyd replied: “I think as we only just put them up just leave it…I think we stay at 20.”

2. Sturgeon called Boris Johnson “a f***ing clown”

Ms Sturgeon referred to the-then prime minister Boris Johnson as a “f***ing clown” during a public address by the latter to announce a second lockdown, the inquiry heard.

Demonstrators outside the UK Covid-19 Inquiry hearing at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

In October 2020, during Johnson’s televised address to the public, Lloyd messaged the First Minister: “Hitting 15 minutes between football and Strictly, let’s never do it like this.”

Sturgeon replied: “Comms is beyond awful. We’re not perfect but we don’t get enough credit for how much better we are. This is f***ing excruciating, their comms are awful.

“His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere. He is a f***ing clown.”

The inquiry also heard the relationship between the former first Minister and Johnson was virtually non existent.

First Minister Humza Yousaf departs the UK Covid inquiry. Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

Lloyd said: “We had to mitigate the chaos that appeared around some of the decisions they took.” Junior counsel to the inquiry Usman Tariq asked Lloyd if the relationship between Sturgeon and Johnson had “broken down”.

She said:” That overstates what was there to break.”

3. There are no WhatsApp messages between Nicola Sturgeon and her aide from the beginning of the pandemic

WhatsApp messages between Sturgeon and Lloyd have been deleted, the inquiry heard, with no messages being recoverable from the start of the pandemic in March until September 2020.

Nicola Sturgeon's former chief of staff, Liz Llloyd departs the Covid inquiry at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC)

“I would like to say that I regret not being able to give the inquiry those messages,” Lloyd said. “I thought I had them, I had sourced them. I have done everything that I am able to do, as far as I can, to find them.

“I thought I had retained them and they're not there.” Lloyd added: “I can't say whether I actively deleted them.”

4. Humza Yousaf deleted messages, but insisted the “salient points” were recorded

Jamie Dawson KC, the lead counsel for the UK Covid Inquiry, said Yousaf appeared to be “a heavy user of WhatsApp”, and asked the First Minister if he used multiple personal phones rather than his government-issued phone during the pandemic. Yousaf replied that he did.

Pushed on the deletion of WhatsApp messaging, Yousaf said the “salient points” of discussions relating to decisions were given to the corporate record by ministers’ private offices, rather than the verbatim discussions.

“Was it in your habit to give your phone to your private office?,” Dawson asked. "No, that would not be the usual practice,” said Yousaf.

“I would inform my private office about a decision and salient points to record and pass them on in an email or a call."

Yousaf added: “Not every sentence, full stop, or apostrophe will be recorded.”

5. The First Minister apologised for deletions

Yousaf apologised “unreservedly” for the Scottish Government’s multiple failures to hand over WhatsApp messages to the UK Covid Inquiry.

The First Minister said “there is no excuse” for the deletion of WhatsApp messages relating to pandemic decision-making, adding “we should have done better”.

“Ministers are, and there is an awareness amongst ministers, that any key decisions in relation to government business should be recorded in the corporate record,” Yousaf told the inquiry.

“But I’m afraid that for a long time the corporate mindset of the government was if the corporate record had the record, that was the only thing that was required, when the inquiry has made it clear you were seeking more than that.

“There was a gap on mobile messaging policy.”

6. The Scottish Government will conduct a review into the deletion of WhatsApp messages

Yousaf announced that there will be an externally-led review into the use of mobile messaging apps and non-corporate technology in the Scottish Government.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Yousaf offered an “unreserved apology” to families bereaved by Covid over his government’s handling of WhatsApp messaging, and said: “I do believe that there are challenges in relation to our use of WhatsApp. It has not been frankly the Government’s finest hour in relation to handling those requests and I put my hands up to that, unlike of course other governments.

“That’s why I have commissioned officials to deliver an externally-led review, not a government review, but an externally-led review, into the use of mobile messaging apps and the use of non-corporate technology in the Scottish Government, and that should take particular account of our interaction with statutory public inquiries.

“When it comes to being transparent, the government handed over 28,000 messages, 19,000 documents, I myself as First Minister of the government have handed over my WhatsApp messages.”

7. Humza Yousaf is not a fan of the Scottish Police Federation

Humza Yousaf once referred to the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) as a “disgrace”, as he expressed frustration with its leadership.

Messages from June 2020 between Yousaf and former deputy first minister John Swinney were shown to the inquiry as the First Minister gave evidence on Thursday.

The SPF represents rank-and-file police officers in Scotland and at the time Mr Yousaf was the Scottish Government’s justice secretary. Mr Dawson KC read out the message exchange as it was displayed on screens at the hearing in Edinburgh.

Mr Swinney could be seen to say: “I have just caught up with the latest insight into SPF thinking!”

Mr Yousaf said: “Theyre (sic) a disgrace. Right through this pandemic they have shown an arrogance and retrograde thinking. Chief was livid last night.”

Mr Dawson asked Mr Yousaf why he said the SPF was a disgrace. The First Minister said: “I was expressing frustration in a private conversation. Sometimes when you are venting to a colleague, you use language you regret.”

8. Prof Leitch insists he was following Scottish Government advice

Professor Jason Leitch said he disagreed with claims the Scottish Government’s message retention policies meant he should have retained those messages.

Mr Dawson KC put it to Leitch that his “interpretation of the guidance is wrong” and that “in fact one needs to retain discussions salient to the business of [the] Scottish Government”.

To which Prof Leitch replied: “I disagree with your interpretation of the guidance.”

Mr Dawson KC read out a statement from Leitch in which he said: “Except for direct messages from my Twitter account, I have not retained any one-to-one informal communications in relation to the management of the pandemic in Scotland, this is because I followed the policy described in more detail above.”

The KC asked: “So, you used text messages, WhatsApp messages, is that right? But you did not retain them above and beyond the interpretation of the policy that you’ve just set out for us?”

Leitch replied: “Correct.”

9. Deleting messages was a “pre-bed ritual” for Prof Leitch

A message from Leitch was shown to the inquiry in which he said deleting WhatsApp messages was a “pre-bed ritual”, a comment the government’s senior clinical adviser has now described as “a flippant exaggeration”.

He said: “As you’ve heard, the record retention policy was that you could use informal messaging systems for Scottish Government business.

“If you did, you should ensure that any advice or any decisions or anything that should be in the corporate record was then placed in that corporate record by email, briefing, etc, and then you should delete the informal messaging, and that’s the guidance I followed.”

10. Prof Leitch ran a WhatsApp group known as the “Star Chamber”

Scotland's chief medical officer, Sir Gregor Smith, Prof Leitch, and chair of the national incident management team, Dr Jim McMenamin, were all part of a WhatsApp group called ‘Star Chamber’, which discussed which local authorities should be placed into lockdown.

The Star Chamber was an English court that sat in the 16th century and has since become a byword for an authority that delivers arbitrary rulings behind closed doors, with little to no due process.

Leitch told the inquiry the group was used by Dr McMenamin to reach "clinical consensus" before chairing Scotland’s national incident management team. He also explained the tiers were decided by data, such as deaths and infections, and whether the data in local authorities met certain criteria.

The inquiry heard Leitch set up an ‘auto-delete’ function on the Star Chamber WhatsApp group.

“I am comfortable that falls within Scottish Government guidance”, Leitch said, before adding that he deleted messages “in line” with that government guidance.