that was martin reynolds are speaking - martin reynolds are speaking earlier. _ was he in all of this? martin reynolds is the _ was he in all of this? martin reynolds is the principal - was he in all of this? martin - reynolds is the principal private secretary to boris johnson. reynolds is the principal private secretary to borisjohnson. he is a key person in the running of number 10 downing street and the inquiry did talk to him about how he ran number ten during that time. in the conflict he said between decisions being made with borisjohnson and the ones that were being made in the government machine, the cabinet office and the civil service, and the fact that he was bringing all of those people together. he's certainly the person that is in a lot of the groups and would have been handling e—mails and indeed passing that information on to the prime minister so that he was fully briefed on what he needed to know about covid during that period. that is why he's in the seat because he is why he's in the seat because he is the man who was basically running bori

martin alexander bailey reynolds. _ us your full name. martin alexander bailey reynolds. ey reynolds. you were the - us your full name. martin alexander i bailey reynolds. you were the former rinci al bailey reynolds. you were the former principal private _ bailey reynolds. you were the former principal private secretary _ bailey reynolds. you were the former principal private secretary to - bailey reynolds. you were the former principal private secretary to the - principal private secretary to the then _ principal private secretary to the then prime — principal private secretary to the then prime minister— principal private secretary to the then prime minister boris- principal private secretary to the i then prime minister borisjohnson, where _ then prime minister borisjohnson, where you — then prime minister borisjohnson, where you not? _ then prime minister borisjohnson, where you not? l— then prime minister boris johnson, where you not?— then prime minister boris johnson, where you not?_ you - then prime minister boris johnson, l where you not?_ you have where you not?

giving evidence to the covid inquiry, martin reynolds was pressed by hugo keith kc over the scale ofd notes were given to borisjohnson over a key ten—day period in february 2020, coinciding with the half—term holiday, and he appeared to acknowledge that the realisation of the scale of the disaster had come "late", pointing to a "systemic failure". with more on this, here is our health editor, hugh pym. he was at the heart of downing street working with boris johnson, and martin reynolds was challenged on what the government was doing in the weeks before lockdown. did you have plans to deal with the crisis which had broken upon the united kingdom government? as i say, there is a standard set of protocols which are actually cabinet office protocols for dealing with crises. where i agree with you is they were inadequate to deal with the crisis we were confronted with. quotes from a diary kept by the chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance were read to the inquiry, including a damning judgment on boris johnson. "we have a weak and indecisive prime minister." in the face of a viral

we have been hearing from martin reynolds and we are expecting to hear from reynolds and we are expectinge are expecting to hearfrom imran shafi who is reynolds and we are expecting to hear from imran shafi who is another former private secretary to the prime minister. we are due to hear from him and, as you heard there, we were hearing from... hearing about some of them messages, the whatsapp messages. we are seeing extracts from them and entries in private notebooks. that is imran shafi being sworn in there. you'll make the evidence shall be the whole truth and nothing but the truth. {guild evidence shall be the whole truth and nothing but the truth. could you cive the and nothing but the truth. could you give the inquiry _ and nothing but the truth. could you give the inquiry your _ and nothing but the truth. could you give the inquiry your full _ and nothing but the truth. could you give the inquiry your full name. - and nothing but the truth. could you give the inquiry your full name. you | give the inquiry your full name. you have _ give the inquiry your full name. you have treen— g

so, yes, really important moment and as you say, unreserved apology from martin reynolds where he saidrawing all the other government departments together, the machine didn't work and wasn't prepared for the pandemic. we also got a sense of how decisions are being made or at least being discussed, there was a lot of talk about whatsapp groups, we have had plenty of that in the last few months about whatsapp messages. but we heard today that one of the whatsapp groups that included the pm and was called pm updates at the function you can use on it when those messages disappeared. so a lot of those messages that were sent at the time disappeared seven days later. that is my colleague — disappeared seven days later. that is my colleague kelly price our correspondence now. just to emphasise that is not about finding anyone guilty or innocent, the inquiry is about learning lessons and there will be more on this tomorrow. but for now it's time for a look at the weather forecast with matt taylor. the weather shows little sign of calming down in fact quite the reverse. a named storm, storm cia

martin reynolds apologises for his role in the partygate scandal, and that earned him the nickname party it's too late. the campaign for real ale, aka camra, says that pubs and breweries are desperate for help. >> the chancellor, jeremy hunt, has ruled out tax breaks of course he has ahead of the autumn statement, which is only autumn statement, which is only a few weeks away . our east a few weeks away. our east midlands reporter will hollis has been to nottingham's robin hood and festival to hood beer and cider festival to test mood . test the mood. >> okay >> 224. okay >> 224. okay >> it's an industry thriving and barely surviving . more choice barely surviving. more choice than ever. also no more problems . peter runs a micro brewery in mansfield. he says there's fewer customers now. >> we have noticed a big change in drinking habits. >> a lot of people are coming out one day instead of they used to come out three days. >> sir, thank you . >> sir, thank you. >> sir, thank you. >> thank you. enjoy your afternoon guys. >> at nottingham's annual beer festival. the forecast is grim for t

martin reynolds has insisted that these things were not related. e to the public inquiry. mr reynolds, as you heard, is insisting all of this stuff is available elsewhere, on e—mail or hard copy. but the truth is, we have only got his word to take for it. we will not know for sure that that is the case because there is messages just sure that that is the case because there is messagesjust do not exist any more. it adds into some of the questions that have been asked about whether everything that could be available was going to be available to this inquiry. more broadly, mr reynolds has been asked that question about how prepared the government was for the government in early 2020. i have got to say, the picture he has painted has not been a particularly organised one. he said, the cabinet office failed to get on top of the problem, the government machine was not properly prepared. there was a ten day period in vibrate 2020 when borisjohnson was not sent any e—mails or other correspondence about the discussions in government about the pandemic. it is

today, martin reynolds, in the glare of the public inquiry, was challenged on what the government wast the truth. did you have plans to deal with the crisis which had broken upon the united kingdom government? there is a standard set of protocols which are actually cabinet office protocols for dealing with crisis. where i agree with you is they were inadequate to deal with the crisis we were confronted with. lines from a diary kept by the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, were read out, including calling mrjohnson "weak and indecisive". in the face of a viral pandemic, if those views are right, that was a deeply unfortunate position to be in, was it not? er, yes. so what about the e—mail sent by mr reynolds inviting colleagues to drinks in the garden at number ten? i would first like to say how deeply sorry i am for my part in those events and for the e—mail message which went out that day. whatsapp messages were also shown. the head of the civil service, simon case, said of mrjohnson, "i'm at the end of my tether, he changes strategic direction every day." "it has to st

lee kane, who was the former director of communications, but due to timings running over with martin reynoldsto hear from him tomorrow, along with dominic cummings. >> wow. that will be a big news event. lisa, thank you very much indeed for that comprehensive report of what happened today. now, i know some of you at home will be saying so blooming what? we couldn't care less if boris johnson ate a piece of cake with a crowd of people, whether the gangin a crowd of people, whether the gang in number 10 who were all working closely together, had a dnnks working closely together, had a drinks party. it's all irrelevant. after all. didn't keir starmer have a beer and a curry up in the north—east of england? but i'll tell you what really matters and what really matters from this inquiry is how our government operated and functioned at a time of national crisis. a time when we've added 400 billion to our national debt at a time when we've led our national health service waiting list go up. it's now about 7.6 million doses. actions that were taken that ruined small businesses is and delays us to scr

lee kane, who was the former director of communications, but due to timings running over with martin reynoldsto hear from him tomorrow, along with dominic cummings. >> wow. that will be a big news event. lisa, thank you very much indeed for that comprehensive report of what happened today. now, i know some of you at home will be saying so blooming what? we couldn't care less if boris johnson ate a piece of cake with a crowd of people, whether the gangin a crowd of people, whether the gang in number 10 who were all working closely together, had a dnnks working closely together, had a drinks party. it's all irrelevant. after all. didn't keir starmer have a beer and a curry up in the north—east of england? but i'll tell you what really matters and what really matters from this inquiry is how our government operated and functioned at a time of national crisis. a time when we've added 400 billion to our national debt at a time when we've led our national health service waiting list go up. it's now about 7.6 million doses. actions that were taken that ruined small businesses is and delays us to scr

today, martin reynolds, in the glare of the public inquiry, was challenged on what the government wasou have plans to deal with the crisis which had broken upon the united kingdom government? there is a standard set of protocols which are actually cabinet office protocols for dealing with crisis. where i agree with you is they were inadequate to deal with the crisis we were confronted with. lines from a diary kept by the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, were read out, including calling mrjohnson "weak and indecisive". in the face of a viral pandemic, if those views are right, that was a deeply unfortunate position to be in, was it not? er, yes. so what about the e—mail sent by mr reynolds inviting colleagues to drinks in the garden at number ten? i would first like to say how deeply sorry i am for my part in those events and for the e—mail message which went out that day. whatsapp messages were also shown. the head of the civil service, simon case, said of mrjohnson, "i'm at the end of my tether, he changes strategic direction every day." "it has to stop." "government i

he was at the heart of downing street working with boris johnson and martin reynolds was challenged onown. did you have plans to deal with the crisis which had broken upon the united kingdom government? as i say, there is a standard set of protocols which are actually cabinet office protocols dealing with crises. where i agree with you is they were inadequate to deal with the crisis we were confronted with. quotes from a diary kept by the chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance were read to the inquiry, including a damning judgment on boris johnson. "we have a weak and indecisive prime minister." in the face of a viral pandemic, if those views are right, that was a deeply unfortunate position to be in, was it not? er, yes. so what about the e—mail sent by mr reynolds inviting colleagues to drinks in the garden at number ten? i would first like to say how deeply sorry i am for my part in those events and for the e—mail message which went out that day. later, anotherformer downing street aide, imran shafi, was asked about a note he had taken about a meeting between mrjohnson and th

we will be hearing from martin reynolds this morning, the principal private secretary to boris johnsonparty ma. he was the one who sent out the invitation to more than 100 downing st staff during lockdown inviting them to a bring your own

well, among those giving evidence is boris johnson's former private secretary martin reynolds, who hasmic. why did you turn on the disappearing message function around the time that the prime minister announced a public inquiry into the covid pandemic? i cannot... i mean, i can guess or i can speculate, but i cannot recall exactly why i did so. but as i say, my explanation is this whatsapp group was very different from any other whatsapp group on my phone in that it was essentially funnelling information into the prime minister and all of that was recorded separately in hard copy or in an emailform, including the prime minister's comments. so that flow of information of updating him on developments was was recorded properly on our systems. now i cannot... i can speculate as to why i might have done it. i...as i...as i said at the start, i've kept all my other whatsapp for the relevant period and handed them over. so i don't believe it was intended to prevent the inquiry from having sight of this. it could, for example, have been because i was worried of someone screenshotting or using

in september 2020, it was revealed by martin reynolds , whose evidence reynolds, whose evidence revealedonal internal politics within downing street because of, in his words, dominic cummings, mr johnson's former top adviser, who will give evidence tomorrow . the give evidence tomorrow. the police officer charged with murder following the fatal shooting of chris kaba will be named publicly. the officer's named publicly. the officer's name and date of birth will be made public on the 30th of january. their home address or any image of them, cannot be published . mr kaba when he published. mr kaba died when he was through windscreen was shot through the windscreen of in south—east london of a car in south—east london last year. and the king and queen have arrived in kenya for the start of a five day state visit . charles and camilla's visit. charles and camilla's royal tour comes as the east african nation celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence from britain. and dunng independence from britain. and during the visit, charles is expected to acknowledge the painful aspects of the

but today is of martin reynolds , is the turn of martin reynolds, who the infamous bring your who sentining me now is lisa hartle , all our gb now is lisa hartle, all our gb news reporter for he's been tuning in transfixed to this lisa, i hope you've not brought your own booze to this event but what's been going on? >> so most of the day we heard from martin reynolds as you you mentioned there, the former principal secretary to boris johnson when he was the prime minister. and he was asked briefly about that garden party that he sent an email to staff inviting them to bring their own booze. inviting them to bring their own booze . and he was asked, given booze. and he was asked, given that many people lost their loved ones, they couldn't be with their loved ones as they were whilst was were dying. whilst this was happening they were asked happening and they were asked for which he for his response, to which he said apologised unreservedly said he apologised unreservedly for part he played in that for the part he played in that also the inquiry heard that he turned down the disappearing

. former top aide martin reynolds.cer charged with murder following the fatal shooting of chris kaba will be named publicly. the officer's named publicly. the officer's name and date of birth will be made public on the 30th of january. their home address or any image of them, cannot be published. mr kaba died when he was shot through the windscreen of a car in south—east london last year. torfaen line dab plus tunein radio . this is gb news. tunein radio. this is gb news. now it's back to. mark rishi sunak called an emergency cobra meeting today as the terror threat in this country spirals . threat in this country spirals. >> having turned a blind eye to the festering hatred of western values within this country for years now, the revelation that britain is a more dangerous place to live in is tonight's winner of the no sugar sherlock award. you reap what you sow. the batley school teacher still in hiding, having lost his career after showing students an image of prophet mohammed as an educational tool while a schoolbo

helen mcnamara and martin reynolds produced a report which identified toxic cultural problems in number. had you contributed to the toxic atmosphere, mr cummings? i contributed to... certainly the atmosphere was toxic in all sorts of ways. i contributed to it in the sense of i had said the system is broken and a lot of the people need to be removed and it needs to be rebuilt. this was extremely unpopular with some officials and was extremely unpopular with other officials, in particular martin. there was, i would stress, a lot of support, a lot of very good officials had seen the collapse of the cabinet office up close and there was a lot of support for my view, which was that it needed fundamental root and branch change. my fundamental root and branch change. my question was how you contributed to the toxic atmosphere? is your answer yes?— to the toxic atmosphere? is your answer yes? no, my answer is not es. if answer yes? no, my answer is not yes- if you — answer yes? no, my answer is not yes- if you are — answer yes? no, my answer is not yes. if you are suggesting - answer yes? no, m

you sent an e—mail to martin reynolds, the principal private secretary, and others including the private said, we are wasting far too much time in clap meetings. are not using the pm's time well. changes from tomorrow. no papers go 2pm and anything related covid—19 including from cab office. unless they are cleared by tom or me. nobody else. any chair brief, anything related to covid—19 must be cleared by him or me. nobody else. and then there are some further directions concerning papers for the prime minister and meetings. directions concerning papers for the prime ministerand meetings. hire whoever else you think you need, we must start cancelling meetings and telling the pm. and so on. did that direction that nothing would go to the prime minister on covid from the cabinet office and hmt include anything from the cabinet secretary? did that mean that the cabinet secretary cannot directly to the prime minister? b, secretary cannot directly to the prime minister?— secretary cannot directly to the prime minister? a mess cleared by ou or prime minister? a mess cleared by you or tom? _ pr

martin reynolds who was the head of the prime minister's private office is being questioned by the councilthe cabinet was not prepared for the scale of the pandemic and acknowledge that in hindsight, he should have been far more vigorously testing out and looking at their plans. their inquiry, like all public inquiries, won't buy anyone guilty or innocent but is aimed at addressing public concerns and learning lessons from past offences. concerns and learning lessons from past offences-_ past offences. let's listen in. in downin: past offences. let's listen in. in downing street, _ past offences. let's listen in. in downing street, dominic- past offences. let's listen in. in - downing street, dominic cummings did the same thing and said that he brought in a lot of data to people dealing with some of the problems we were identifying then but creating a very high level of complexity. when the prime minister himself had a very similar sort of reaction, when he lost confidence in the government system, he reached for different people, whoever it might be. so you have a situation during the cri

street during the pandemic. >> so, as you said, right now, martin reynolds is giving evidence he wasail to staff, telling them to bring their own booze to that notorious garden party at downing street that took place during lockdown this morning. the chair, heather hallett, opened the inquiry saying that she will decide what evidence will be published after that comes after complaints that only of documents and only parts of documents and whatsapp messages are being made public. and she's asking witnesses to respect that decision . on now the theme of decision. on now on the theme of whatsapps, the inquiry has heard this morning that boris johnson did not realise that during the pandemic his whatsapp messages might later become public. the inquiry was shown a whatsapp message from simon case. the cabinet secretary. it stated . cabinet secretary. it stated. the 20th of december 2021 and in it simon case says pm is mad if he doesn't think his whatsapp will become public via the covid inquiry. but he is clearly not inquiry. but he is clearly not in for that discussion. in the mood for t

martin reynolds, the former principal private secretary to mrjohnson when he was prime minister, willformer number ten director of communications lee cain. former chief advisor dominic cummings will give evidence tomorrow. coastguards are searching for a man who went missing in the sea in somerset. he was trying to help a woman and her dog who were swept into the water at burnham—on—sea near weston—super—mare but they managed to get out safely. an inquest into the death of gracie spinks is due to start this morning. the 23—year—old was attacked in a field in derbyshire in 2021, where she'd gone to look after her horse. a former work colleague believed to be responsible was found dead nearby. gracie's parents, alison heaton and richard spinks, spoke to breakfast after her death in 2021. yeah, she was a ray of sunshine, a beautiful young woman at the beginning of her life, her adult life. she mapped out what she wanted to do. she was passionate about animals and horses. swimming, she loved swimming, didn't she? she was a talented singer, played the piano, beautiful artist. she loved mus

martin reynolds was borisjohnson�*s principal private secretary — in the room while the response to covidth. did you have plans to deal with the crisis which had broken upon the united kingdom government? there is a standard set of protocols which are actually cabinet office protocols for dealing with crisis. where i agree with you is they were inadequate to deal with the crisis we were confronted with. the inquiry has also heard whatsapp messages from the cabinet secretary at the time, simon case, who said borisjohnson cannot lead, and was turning the government into a terrible, tragicjoke. there were quotes, too, from a diary kept by the then chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance, which included a damning judgement on the former pm. "we have a weak and indecisive prime minister." in the face of a viral pandemic... ..if those views are right, that was a deeply unfortunate position to be in, was it not? er, yes. another former downing street aide, imran shafi, was asked about a note he had taken of a meeting between mrjohnson and the chancellor rishi sunak just before lockdown. "d

all to martin reynolds, email.artin reynolds, the principal private secretary, stuart glassborow . claire stuart glassborow. claire brunton imran shafi, the prime secretary for health matters education and other policies. hannah young and emily benyon, as well as munira mirza . and you as well as munira mirza. and you copied it back to yourself . you copied it back to yourself. you said, we're wasting far too much time in crap meetings. said, we're wasting far too much time in crap meetings . we're not time in crap meetings. we're not using the pm's time. well changes from tomorrow, no papers go to pm on anything related to covid 19, including from cab of cab cabinet office and rmt. unless they're cleared by chinna. that's tom chinna. yes. or me . nobody else any chinna. that's tom chinna. yes. or me. nobody else any chair brief and anything related to covid 19 must be cleared by chinnor or me. nobody else . and chinnor or me. nobody else. and then there are some further directions concerning papers for prime minis

he'll have been planning everything's going to be saying today in front of the inquiry, certainly martin reynoldsles as party. >> marty , for his covid party >> marty, for his covid party invites to that downing street, drinks. they were in the summer of 2020. he produced some pretty stark testimony and crucially , stark testimony and crucially, some of those whatsapp messages that now litter the front pages of many newspapers about what exactly senior advisers thought of decision making from the prime minister and other political figures, especially in the first six months of the pandemic. but today, rather more box office, the household name who was blasted across every front page and across all of our television screens in the summer of 2020. of course, for his long drive up to durham and barnard castle, testing his eyesight, testing his eyesight, of course . testing his eyesight, of course. but it is interesting , testing his eyesight, of course. but it is interesting, dominic cummings has not been a shrinking violet when it comes to criticism of boris johnson over the last two years. and tod

if you caught that on bbc news, it was made by martin reynolds who was the former principal private secretaryy on the basis of advice — work exclusively on the basis of advice of— work exclusively on the basis of advice of his— work exclusively on the basis of advice of his chief— work exclusively on the basis of advice of his chief of— work exclusively on the basis of advice of his chief of staff, - work exclusively on the basis of advice of his chief of staff, and i advice of his chief of staff, and that if— advice of his chief of staff, and that if you _ advice of his chief of staff, and that if you look _ advice of his chief of staff, and that if you look at _ advice of his chief of staff, and that if you look at many - advice of his chief of staff, and that if you look at many of - advice of his chief of staff, and that if you look at many of the | that if you look at many of the policy — that if you look at many of the policy debates _ that if you look at many of the policy debates going - that if you look at many of the policy debates going on, - that if you look at many of the policy

derek >> it has to be martin reynolds.brief enough private secretary to boris johnson, who appeared before the covid inquiry, couldn't remember a thing . he couldn't remember a thing. he appeared as though he was in the advanced of alzheimer's disease. >> yeah. good sir. one. how >> yeah. good sir. one. and how about your union jackass? >> mine is miriam cates, who was blamed rise of children blamed the rise of children arriving still in arriving at school, still in nappies a working mothers. nappies on a working mothers. apparently, children don't have fathers. >> you go . brilliant >> there you go. brilliant stuff. well, look, i liked all those i'm going those nominations, but i'm going to for sam bankman freed. to go for sam bankman freed. never blame the missus. as mrs. dolan will tell you. love your company tonight. what brilliant pundits you were. we'll catch up in a week's time. let me tell you that patrick is looking after show thursday and after the show thursday and wednesday . that's tomorrow and wednesday. that

very important to show grip suggested to martin reynolds earlier. so i think he's handung earlier. handling dominic cummings. yeah we should pencil in an interview early next week on this too. we've got to sort stuff out over the next few days, but monday must be a new level and mr johnson says at the end of this particular thread, not sure if it can wait till monday . there's it can wait till monday. there's no reference there to the possibility that he'd been asked to come back earlier or that there should be a cobra while he was in chifney . is there no . and was in chifney. is there no. and he asked or he said , i'm not he asked or he said, i'm not convinced. we're showing . convinced. we're showing. >> okay. so that is the latest from the covid inquiry that as you can see, i am here in brighton at the royal british legion. we're going to be doing a special here because we're doing poppy appeal. thank doing our poppy appeal. so thank you very much for everybody who's the who's donated right across the country, it's country, unfortunately, it's proving get people proving difficu