Covid inquiry: Daily Mail wanted people back at work to revive sales – Johnson aide

Document reveals James Slack's messages about article prompted concern from Matt Hancock

Boris Johnson's top media official said the Daily Mail's eagerness to get people working in offices during the first Covid lockdown came from being desperate" to sell newspapers, according to documents released to the official inquiry.

James Slack said a Mail headline in April 2020 predicting masks could allow people to return to work was spurred by a desire to revive their circulation figures. He had previously been the paper's political editor before working for Johnson in No 10.