Covid Inquiry: Nicola Sturgeon calls Boris Johnson a 'f**cking clown' on WhatsApp as Humza Yousaf set to appear
Recap what happened at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry today with The Scotsman's politics team.
Key Events
Liz Lloyd now says early in the pandemic there were arguments people should have known more about certain events and certain cases.
We are now being shown an email exchange about a Nike conference on 25th to 27th of February 2020.
In an email it says they are conscious a number of Scottish cases connect to one event (the Nike conference), and suggested it could be reassuring for the public to understand this, saying it is a “legitimate public interest matter”.
Former Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood was very conscious about patient confidentiality and didn’t want to reveal too much information about the Nike conference because it would be easy to find the people who were infected.
This was particularly because the first Covid patient in Scotland had media on their doorstep.
Liz Lloyd says her preference would have been to say a number of cases at the beginning were connected to the Nike conference.
There were 71 delegates at the conference which was held in Edinburgh.
We are now discussing the first death in Scotland from Covid-19.
It was decided to not reveal this was a French man who had travelled to Scotland to attend a rugby match.
Liz Lloyd says this was because of family issues or issues with the French Consulate.
The inquiry says by saying this man was a “patient under the care of NHS Lothian” gave the impression this was a local man rather than a French man.
Mr Tariq asks if this is evidence of the Scottish Government “covering up uncomfortable information” in the early days of the pandemic.
Ms Lloyd says this is “inaccurate”.
We have now been told Liz Lloyd was the first person in the Scottish Government to submit her WhatsApp messages. When the inquiry publicly called for government WhatsApps to be handed over in November 2023, Ms Lloyd was still the only government official to hand over her WhatsApps.
She voluntarily handed over messages between herself and Nicola Sturgeon from 1st September 2020 and 16th March 2021 in July 2023.
In November 2023 she the handed over other WhatsApps between her and Ms Sturgeon from 31st August 2020 to 1st September 2020, and additional messages between her, former health secretary Jeane Freeman, former education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, and former finance secretary Kate Forbes.
Liz Lloyd is now being asked about retaining WhatsApp messages and the government’s policy on this.
She said: “In relation to records management policy it has always been my understand for the need to, whatever form the communications take, to put salient material into the official record.
“It is useless on my form, it achieves nothing sitting on my phone, it needs to be on the government system for it to have any effect.
“To the best of my recollection I am not familiar with the mobile messaging policy.”
Lady Hallett has now asked Liz Lloyd if she had ever seen the government guidance which others had followed which said WhatsApps should be deleted.
Ms Lloyd said: “I can’t be categoric, but I have no recollection of reading that policy at any point in time.
“Private secretaries would send notices to remind you to manage your inboxes, but I have no recollection of having seen that policy.”
Lady Hallett then asked if she would have deleted her messages had she seen this guidance.
Ms Lloyd said: “I don’t think I would, certainly not intentionally.”
Liz Lloyd says when submitting her WhatsApp messages to the official government record, she did not transcribe them verbatim. She says she treated them the same way as she would a conversation between her and the First Minister.
Liz Lloyd says there are not vast numbers of WhatsApps between her and Ms Sturgeon during the first lockdown because she attended St Andrew’s House “the vast majority of days, including Saturdays and Sundays”.
She said she would be there until late at night, as would Nicola Sturgeon, so the majority of discussions happened in person and WhatsApp messages tended to be focused on the logistics of media briefings.
Over the other side of Edinburgh, Humza Yousaf is just starting first minister's questions at the Scottish Parliament. He is due to appear at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry at 2pm.
Lady Hallett is now questioning Liz Lloyd, saying it looks as if some members of the cabinet wanted to capitalise on the pandemic to advance the cause of independence.
Ms Lloyd said: “The way people looked to the Scottish Government to provide leadership, and what they then felt about the constitutional situation, our actions were not designed to produce that result.
“If the public made their own decisions on that, we were not the ones driving that.”
Liz Lloyd is now being questioned by Claire Mitchell KC on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group.
She is being asked about the impact the lockdowns had on people’s livelihoods, where she said on reflection the relationship between government and economic stakeholders was “not great” going into the pandemic, and then “deteriorated”.
She said it felt “like a burden” to tell people information they disagreed with.
That's Liz Lloyd's hearing over - Humza Yousaf is the next witness up and he is due in an hour and a half.
I'll be back at 1.45pm - hope everyone enjoys a nice lunch in the meantime!
Sturgeon's sweary outburst
Nicola Sturgeon referred to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a “f***ing clown” during a public address by the latter to announce a second lockdown, an inquiry has heard.
Appearing at the UK Covid Inquiry hearings in Edinburgh, former aide to Ms Sturgeon, Liz Lloyd, was quizzed on WhatsApp exchanges between herself and her boss during the pandemic.
Read the full exchange here: Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson 'a f***ing clown' during second lockdown announcement
Welcome back to our live blog of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry! Humza Yousaf is about to take to the stand - in the meantime you can read our Health Correspondent Joseph Anderson's take on what happened this morning:
Before we get underway, Humza Yousaf was questioned on Covid WhatsApps at first minister’s questions an hour ago.
He announced there will now be an externally-led review into the use of mobile messaging apps and non-corporate technology in the Scottish Government.
Mr Yousaf 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.”
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