Watch live as the UK’s Covid inquiry continues, with David Cameron expected to give evidence on Monday 19 June.
The former prime minister has been accused of an “appalling” failure to properly prepare the UK for the pandemic and will be questioned on how austerity impacted the UK’s ability to deal with the virus.
Ahead of the session, the British Medical Association launched a scathing attack on Mr Cameron and said government cuts to NHS funding “left us so unprepared” for the pandemic.
“The UK was severely on the back foot when Covid took hold, and this proved disastrous – for the doctors I represent and the millions who suffered at the hands of the virus,” Professor Philip Banfield, the BMA council chair and a consultant obstetrician of 30 years, said.
“‘No healthcare system could have come through a pandemic unscathed’ is the defence often parroted by those who were calling the shots.
“But the question to Cameron, [George] Osborne and [Jeremy] Hunt must be: how did you allow the NHS and public health to get to such a parlous state, and fail to prepare so appallingly, that many didn’t stand a fighting chance when the wave crashed over them?”
