Chaos at the heart of government and a failure to take Covid-19 seriously cost 23,000 lives in the first wave of the pandemic, a public inquiry has concluded in a damning report.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a "toxic" culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, while cabinet members including health secretary Matt Hancock plus key scientists all failed to act with the urgency needed to tackle the virus.

Baroness Heather Hallett's report on the government response to Covid accused Mr Johnson of being too "optimistic" in his outlook in the early months of 2020.

And she said his special adviser, Dominic Cummings , used "offensive, sexualised and misogynistic" language as he "poisoned" the atmosphere in Downing Street.

The inquiry found that the fir

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