After Boris Johnson, the Cabinet Office fears that the Covid inquiry could seek Rishi Sunak’s unredacted messages

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Measurable targets and ‘securonomics’ have replaced values and vows. If only our leaders would ‘deliver’ some honesty

I’m not quite sure when it happened, but at some point over the past year, politicians’ language was taken over by a sort of corporate speak. Corpspeak, as it has been informally called, is a dead-eyed repetitive white noise that sounds like a cross between someone reading a PowerPoint presentation and a lawyer answering questions on behalf of a client they cannot trust to speak for themselves.

Most guilty of it is Rishi Sunak, a man who has probably said the word “deliver” more than any other during his premiership. Sunak is, above all, “focused on delivering for Britain”. Have any questions about Scottish independence? Sunak’s answer is that he is focusing on the things he can do to “deliver here for people in Scotland by working constructively together”. Just suffered a wipeout at the local elections? You guessed it, delivering is the answer. After those local election results he had a rousing moment of self-reflection that he shared with the nation: “The message I am hearing from people is that they want us to focus on their priorities and they want us to deliver for them.” Asked to reflect on how he feels when he loses, Sunak replied : “My focus in this job is to deliver for the country.”

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The public interest demands the full disclosure of what went on inside government during our deadliest peacetime emergency in more than a century

It is marked in calendars around Westminster and Whitehall as a day to dread. On 13 June, the public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic will start taking oral evidence. A procession of those at the heart of government decision-taking and blunder-making will be interrogated under oath about their actions and inactions. Heather Hallett , the retired judge in the chair, is said to be disappointed that she did not make lord chief justice. Yet there is surely no more significant role in her line of work than investigating, passing judgment and drawing lessons from the performance of government during the deadliest peacetime emergency in more than a century.

This inquisition is not going to be a dry and bloodless exercise. The formidable judge is adopting a take-no-prisoners approach. We know this from the advance questions the inquiry team has been sending out to those who will be examined .

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Security services fear the new technology could be used to groom vulnerable people

The creators of artificial intelligence need to abandon their “tech utopian” mindset, according to the terror watchdog, amid fears that the new technology could be used to groom vulnerable individuals.

Jonathan Hall KC, whose role is to review the adequacy of terrorism legislation, said the national security threat from AI was becoming ever more apparent and the technology needed to be designed with the intentions of terrorists firmly in mind.

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Role of eat out to help out scheme in increased cases and Treasury hostility to scientific advice may come under spotlight

At the start of a Tory leadership debate hosted by the Sun last July, Rishi Sunak made a series of statements which, 10 months on, all ring equally hollow.

Facing Liz Truss – the contest’s eventual winner – Sunak was at pains to acknowledge that Sun readers were struggling with the cost of living. But he also wanted to temper his concern for them with optimism about Britain’s prospects.

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Leading scientist attacks prime minister as criticism mounts of government approach to science during the crisis

Rishi Sunak is facing a barrage of criticism in the run-up to the official Covid-19 inquiry as a leading scientist attacks his “spectacularly stupid” eat out to help out scheme, which is believed to have caused a sudden rise in cases of the virus.

The prime minister’s role as chancellor during the pandemic is under increasing scrutiny – as is that of his predecessor at No 10, Boris Johnson – in an escalating Covid blame game at Westminster as Lady Hallett prepares to open her investigation into the government’s pandemic response later this month.

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The lessons to be learned from the government’s mistakes in handling of the coronavirus are crucial. We need all the facts

If one clear lesson is to be taken from our response to the arrival of Covid-19 three years ago, it is an appreciation of the highly effective role played by scientists in fighting the pandemic. Within weeks of the Sars-CoV-2 virus emerging, researchers had sequenced every one of its genes and had pinpointed the cells through which Covid-19 enters the body. By the end of the year, they had used that knowledge to create a safe, tested vaccine that played a crucial role in ending the pandemic. More than 7 million people across the planet have died of Covid-19 but the death toll would have been far higher had researchers not acted with such speed and potency.

Yet it is also becoming clear that on many occasions scientists were not listened to by national leaders. Economics and short-term political considerations were often given greater priority than scientific concerns. These resulted in failures to limit the spread of Covid-19. It is for this reason that the UK inquiry into the nation’s pandemic response, chaired by Heather Hallett, should be followed with rigorous attention.

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From Boris Johnson to Rishi Sunak, no one in government has anything to hide…

• You can order your own copy of this cartoon

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The Liberal Democrats believe they can seize the affluent, pro-remain Conservative heartland at the next election

If you close your eyes and imagine an archetypal true blue Tory heartland, there is a good chance your mind’s eye will conjure up something close to the quaint Surrey town of Godalming. Boutique bakeries and inviting tea rooms dot the immaculate high street, still festooned with union flag bunting from its coronation celebrations.

Estate agents’ windows feature large detached houses with impossibly long drives. One has an indoor swimming pool. Narrow, cobbled streets sit below Tudor-period facades. At the bottom of its thriving main thoroughfare is the obligatory Waitrose. It comes as no surprise to discover the MP is, naturally, the chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt.

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