No.10 had ‘toxic’ and ‘macho’ culture during Covid pandemic claims senior civil servant

When Boris Johnson’s former top aide Dominic Cummings appeared before the covid inquiry yesterday he was quizzed about his misogynistic messages about a civil service colleague.

Today it was her turn to talk. The former deputy cabinet secretary Helen McNamara – the second most senior civil servant at the time, alleges a ‘toxic’ and ‘macho’ culture and a lack of female perspective in number 10 which created problems in covid policy-making.