No 10 had head-in-sand mentality at start of Covid crisis, says ex-minister

James Bethell says Downing Street did not want to prioritise pandemic in early 2020 even as evidence was mounting

Downing Street showed an ostrich, head-in-the-sand mentality" towards Covid in early 2020 as Boris Johnson's government instead focused on subjects such as Brexit, a former health minister has said.

Speaking to the Institute for Government as part of its ongoing series of in-depth interviews with former ministers about their time in office, James Bethell also said officials did not want him to discuss the potential economic impacts of Covid policies and would delete this from his speeches.