Who is the chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry? A closer look at Baroness Hallett

The UK’s response to the Covid pandemic is being looked at in detail as part of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. Evidence will begin to be heard this week as part of ‘module one’ which focuses on the UK’s preparedness for a pandemic.

The aim of the detailed look into the pandemic in the UK is to see what went wrong and why, how the UK managed to record one of the world’s highest death totals, and so lessons can be learned for the future.

Headlines recently surrounding the inquiry have centred on the release of WhatsApp messages by senior government officials including then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. While some in the Cabinet Office say handing over these unredacted messages is “irrelevant”, others seem to disagree.

The request for the messages came from Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett (Heather Hallet) - a former Court of Appeal judge.

Who is Baroness Hallett?

As a former Court of Appeal judge, Baroness Hallett, 72, is well-versed in UK law. And she’s no stranger to some of the biggest issues the UK has faced in the courts.

Born in Eastleigh, Hampshire, her interest in the law is said to have been influenced by one of her early childhood homes which was formerly her local police station.

Baroness Hallett was the coroner at the inquest into the London 7/7 bombings back in 2005.

Her career was kickstarted in 1998 when she became the first woman to chair the Bar Council - the representative body for barristers in England and Wales.

Adding to this, in 2013 she was appointed vice-president of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division.

After this, the Baroness was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to conduct a review into 200 people who were told they were no longer wanted for paramilitary crimes committed before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

In 2021, Boris Johnson appointed Baroness Hallett as chair of the inquiry into the Covid pandemic.

Hallett is married to Nigel Vivian Marshall Wilkinson, a recorder and deputy high court judge. The couple share two sons together.

Evidence will begin to be heard as part of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on June 13 as part of ‘module one’.

Public hearings are expected to take place until 2026 and members of the public are also being encouraged to their own experiences and stories through the Every Story Matters section on the website.