The former chancellor suffered a huge backlash after he said it was wrong to “empower” scientists during the crisis, claimed the lockdown had gone on too long and revealed he fought against school closures. Mr Sunak also claimed that the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) was advising Boris Johnson to edit minutes to hide dissenting views, saying he was “not allowed” to talk about the downsides of the lockdown. But Professor Graham Medley and other top Sage advisers hit back on Thursday, saying their advice “reflected the scientific consensus” and insisted it was up to politicians to make the decisions. Professor Devi Sridhar – the public health expert who advised the Scottish Government – compared Mr Sunak’s comments to Donald Trump. “Blare out attack on scientists today, watching Sunak vs. Truss feels like Trump #1 vs. Trump #2,” he tweeted. The University of Edinburgh Medical School professor claimed Mr Sunak had “specifically sought out anyone with scientific credentials to recommend ‘letting go’” during 2020. Fellow expert Dr Deepti Gurdasani also rejected Mr Sunak’s claim that scientists were “stepped up” during the pandemic – saying many experts were left “screaming helplessly” because of a failure to act quickly enough. The Queen Mary University of London epidemiologist also claimed that Mr Sunak had invited a group of more skeptical scientists to Downing Street in September 2020, where they “advised delaying a lockdown” recommended by Sage scientists. “An action that likely cost tens of thousands of lives,” Dr Gurdasani tweeted. “This is yours. Do you think Sage got “empowered” then? They were fired. From you.” The Times previously reported that Professor Carl Heneghan and Professor Sunetra Gupta advised Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak against a short “circuit breaker” lockdown in September 2020 – a measure urged by Sage. The prime minister decided to delay a second lockdown until November. In an interview with The Spectator published on Thursday, Mr Sunak said he was “not allowed to talk about the compensation” of lockdowns during the early stages of the crisis – claiming Sage removed certain views from his minutes. “We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists the way we did,” the leadership hopeful said. “If you empower all these independent people, you’re screwed.” Mr Sunak said he described the school closures as a “big nightmare” at the meetings, saying he was “furious” at the policy. Asked if Britain could have avoided the lockdown, Mr Sunak said: “I don’t know, but it could have been shorter. Different. Faster.” Sage’s adviser, Professor Medley, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the government had the decision-making power. “If a cabinet member thinks the scientific advice was too ‘authoritative’, then that is a criticism of his colleagues, not the scientists,” he said. Professor Medley – who was chair of Sage’s Spi-M modeling sub-group – added: “Science has no place in deciding whether to close schools or not, but it does have a role in saying what the impact on the epidemic might be. “ Professor Ian Boyd from the University of St Andrews – a member of Sage during the pandemic – added: “Sage was non-judgemental, tried to reflect his uncertainties in his advice and operated by consensus.” A scientific adviser – who wished to remain anonymous – said Mr Sunak’s comments were “very misleading” as they suggested he was alone in thinking about the impact of the lockdown on schools and other parts of society. The adviser said Sage and her subgroups assessed and discussed the effects of school closures and other measures. “So if the former chancellor had argued against school closures, he would have found plenty of evidence to support his case from the very group of scientists he now appears to be criticizing.” Professor John Edmunds, a leading epidemiologist and Sage Fellow, said the group’s role was “quite narrow” in assessing the scientific evidence to help inform decision-makers. The professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said “there may be some truth” to the idea that the scientific evidence often outweighed the economic data – but suggested it was Mr Sunak’s job to create the economic impact. “Where was, for example, the equivalent of Sage and all its subgroups on the financial side? As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Sunak could have set up such a system, but he did not,” Professor Edmunds said. Dr Rachel Clarke, a GP and NHS campaigner, accused Mr Sunak of “annoying the Conservative Party base because he is desperate”. He told LBC he said his suggestion that lockdowns were bad practice and unnecessary was “absolute nonsense”. Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf accused Sunak of “desperate Trumpism”. The SNP minister tweeted: “Every government minister should be grateful to our scientists and clinicians, not try to throw them under the bus.” Dominic Cummings, the former No 10 general who is leaving at the end of 2020, said Mr Sunak’s views were “dangerous rubbish” – saying the former chancellor was “unfairly” putting the blame on Mr Johnson. “Sunak’s interview is dangerous rubbish, sounds like a man whose epic bad campaign has melted his brain and is about to quit politics,” he tweeted. Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Covid, said Mr Sunak’s comments were a “desperate” attempt to “save” his campaign as he battles Liz Truss to be the next prime minister. Sunak is taking part in the Tory leadership race (Reuters) Mr Sunak suggested it was wrong for Sage scientists to draw “a consensus” from the meetings when asked to explain his comments on BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme. “They tried to present a consensus opinion to the government, but within that there were people who had different views within a large and disparate group, right? The idea that there was only one view of these things, I think was wrong. That was the point I made.” Ms Truss hit out at Mr Sunak, who was a member of the cabinet’s Covid committee overseeing the handling of the crisis. “I wasn’t on the Covid committee during that time, I was busy with trade deals around the world,” he said, ahead of the Norwich flight “My view is that we have gone too far, particularly in keeping schools closed. I have two teenage daughters and I know how difficult it was for the children and the parents and I would not have a lockdown again.” Education Secretary Will Quince – a supporter of Mr Sunak – suggested he also believed school closures were a mistake when asked on LBC if he agreed with the Tory leadership candidate’s criticism of the lockdown policy. “The government had to act on the information it had at the time,” Mr Quince said. “So things like closing your schools with the information we have now, would we do it again? No, I don’t think we would.” Mr Sunak’s supporter Mark Harper MP, the former Tory leader, also backed the leadership candidate’s claims that “dissenting voices were not allowed” during the pandemic. Highlighting the impact of ‘locking’ children out of schools, he told LBC: ‘The government has not been honest about this publicly. It showed that there were no options, that you had to follow ‘The Science,’ with a capital T, a capital S, and no dissenting voices allowed.” Health Secretary Steve Barclay refused to say directly whether he agreed with Mr Sunak’s claim that scientists had been given too much power. Speaking to reporters outside Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, he said: “Well, of course I was in the Treasury with Rishi and you would expect the Treasury ministers in particular to focus on the wider economic consequences of the lockdown.”
