Covid-19 inquiry: David Cameron happy to own up to failures over anything but austerity

Initially, he seemed relatively calm and prepared. He spoke in detail about setting up the National Security Council - designed specifically to look at the risks terrorism, climate change, and “things like pandemics” posed to the UK - and had the facts ready when pressed on what actions his government took and why.

Perhaps surprisingly, Cameron also showed a relative readiness to accept that he had mistakes. Instead of avoiding some of the questions he didn’t like and offering a pre-rehearsed speech - as we often saw with the likes of Boris Johnson - the former Witney MP owned up to what had gone wrong.

“Much more time was spent on pandemic flu rather than on potential pandemics of other more respiratory diseases, like Covid turned out to be,” Cameron said, admitting that this had “so many consequences.” He continued: “It was a mistake not to look more at the range of different types of pandemic. Our failing was not asking more questions.” The accountability was welcome.

Naturally however, given the topic of his questioning, things became more tense as Cameron’s session continued. Counsel to the inquiry Kate Blackwell KC pulled up a note from a 2015 meeting of experts, which warned of the “clear and present danger” of coronavirus threats. In an answer more reflective of a politician, Cameron said he could not recall a specific conversation in which this was raised to him.

But Blackwell then threw Cameron’s own words back at him, reading out a statement he made himself ahead of the G7 in June 2015. “The recent Ebola outbreak was a shocking reminder of the threat we all face from a disease outbreak,” he said. “Despite the high number of deaths and devastation to the region, we got on the right side of it this time thanks to the tireless efforts of local and international health workers.

“But the reality is that we will face an outbreak like Ebola again and that virus could be more aggressive and more difficult to contain. It is time to wake up to that threat and I will be raising this issue at the G7. As a world we must be far better prepared with better research, more drug development and a faster and more comprehensive approach to how we fight these things when they hit.”

Cameron, although accepting that his government had mistakenly prioritised flu pandemics over respiratory disease pandemics, didn’t offer much comment on why he personally didn’t do much to change this - given the fact that he made bold statements like that above.

None of the moments were as tense however as when the line of questioning turned to Cameron’s era of “austerity”. Prior to his evidence session, much was said about how Conservative Party cuts to public services had left the NHS unable to deal with a crisis like coronavirus. The British Medical Association (BMA) said Cameron “must be taken to task” over austerity - arguing that his spending “decisions” had left the health service “so unprepared”.

Meanwhile, other healthcare figures have argued that consecutive governments were aware of the issues facing the NHS before the pandemic hit - but did nothing. Stuart Tuckwood, who used to be an NHS nurse but now works as National Officer for Nursing at the Unison union, previously told NationalWorld: “We were asking for help, and no one listened. Now, there’s a fear the same mistakes will be made again.”

But Cameron was insistent that his “austerity” was the right thing. When asked if the health budgets during his time in office were “inadequate” and “led to a depletion in [the NHS’s] ability to provide an adequate service”, Cameron firmly stated: “I do not accept that.” He argued that debt and the budget deficit needed to be brought down so that the country “could cope with future crises”, explaining: “If you lose control of your debt and you lose control of your deficit and you lose control of your economy, then you end up cutting the health service.”

Cameron then pointed out that there were still “real terms” spending increases for the NHS each year, and tried to soften his argument a bit by adding that he “of course” would have liked to spend more on the health service. But the former Prime Minister still insisted: “I believed and still believe that it was essential to get the British economy and public finances back to health so you can cope with a future crisis.” It was somewhat ironic as Cameron was speaking most confidently and with the most authority in these moments, but they were likely to be the ones he would receive the most criticism for.

So while Cameron was “frank” about his government’s mistakes - and spoke with a welcome amount of humanity when he said how “desperately sorry” he is for those who lost loved ones to Covid - “austerity” ended up being the point he would not budge on. Responding to Cameron’s evidence session, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “David Cameron is in denial about the huge damage caused by his austerity policies - both to public services and the UK economy.

“The evidence is clear that the cuts he imposed massively damaged the readiness and resilience of our public services. And they shredded our social security safety net - leaving millions vulnerable. We must learn the lesson that cuts have costs. And we must strengthen our public services and safety net so that we are never left exposed in the same way again.”

When the Covid-19 public inquiry publishes its report in the coming years, it will likely make its own conclusion on exactly what impact these types of spending decisions did have. It will be interesting to hear what Cameron says then.