LONDON — Cabinet Secretary Simon Case is finally being grilled by Britain’s Covid-19 inquiry Thursday.
But we already know plenty about what the powerful civil servant — and massive WhatsApp user — thinks.
A host of damning messages disclosed to the U.K.’s official pandemic probe have shed light on his interactions with other top government figures as the virus raged — and as Boris Johnson’s senior team struggled to get a grip.
Case has been cabinet secretary — the head of Britain’s impartial bureaucracy, the civil service — since September 2020, making him central to decision-making during the pandemic. Out of government from October 2023 to January on medical leave, Case was excused from giving evidence last fall, but now faces his day under scrutiny at last.
POLITICO compiled five cringe themes from the WhatsApps he’d probably rather forget.
1) He didn’t exactly rate Boris Johnson
It’s fair to say Case’s confidence in his boss Boris Johnson was … mixed at best.
Johnson, he said in one exchange, “changes strategic direction every day.” The ex-prime minister, in Case’s opinion, veered between a “fear” of the virus returning and a “let it rip” mode. At one point Case said Johnson was at “Trump-Bolsonaro levels of mad and dangerous” on Covid.
Case bluntly argued that Johnson “cannot lead” and warned: “The team captain cannot change the call on the big plays every day.”
When putting together a communications strategy for government restrictions, Case lamented that Johnson was “nationally distrusted.” Yikes!
Case admitted being “at the end of my tether” with Johnson seven months into the pandemic. “Government isn’t actually that hard, but this guy is really making it impossible.”
2) But they bonded (a bit) over the Partygate scandal
The duo found a semblance of solidarity over the Partygate scandal when reports emerged of lockdown-breaching gatherings in Downing Street.
Johnson apologized to Case over the “grief” of the scandal, to which the cabinet secretary replied “thanks PM, it is a bit grim, but hopefully it will pass.” Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
Case later had to recuse himself from investigating any breaches of Covid rules in government because he … attended a Christmas drinks gathering. Whoops!
3) Downing Street was in chaos
While Boris Johnson was the actual prime minister, Case’s messages suggested true power lay elsewhere.
In one WhatsApp, he wrote that the PM’s wife Carrie Johnson appeared to be “the real person in charge” of the government. When asked what the team would discuss in one set of messages, Case frankly replied: “Whatever Carrie cares about, I guess.”
Case also had a pop at Dominic Cummings, in one exchange fuming at the former Downing Street adviser for speaking to the press.
Case recalled having “exploded” at Cummings, writing: “I will not work in an environment where Dom is constantly briefing out his plans and screwing up the rest of us in the process.”
The working environment was also decried in stark terms. “This place is just insane,” Case said. “Zero discipline,” predicting “at this rate, I will struggle to last six months.”
Luckily for Case, Cummings left government in a storm two months after Case took the top civil service job.
4) He was a lockdown hardliner
Any dissent against Britain’s Covid lockdown seemed to get short shrift with the cabinet secretary.
In exchanges with then-Health Sec Matt Hancock, Case wrote that it was “hilarious” some travelers were “locked up” in hotels after entering the U.K. — and he said the “fear/guilt factor” would be “vital” in public messaging during the third lockdown.
The cabinet secretary also characterized then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak (now Britain’s PM) as “going bonkers” during a row about tracing people with Covid. Opposition from Tory MPs towards restrictions was dismissed as “pure Conservative ideology.”
5) He had some top leadership tips
Case’s most stinging criticism, as outlined in the WhatsApp exchanges, seemed to come for the government machine itself.
He lambasted a “weak team” at the top, and warned government “definitely cannot succeed in these circs. IT HAS TO STOP!” (Caps lock his own.)
Case even branded the government he was the top official in as a “terrible, tragic joke,” and argued ministers lacked credibility to impose restrictions after initially deciding not to.
Perhaps most damningly of all, he said he had “never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country” than those in Downing Street during the pandemic.
Get the popcorn ready — case will be on from 10 a.m. Here’s the livestream.
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