No10 accused of secrecy as its emerges top civil servant also had coronavirus

Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill tested positive for Covid-19 on April 2, less than a week after the PM informed the nation he was also struck down with the disease (Picture: Getty)

Downing Street has been accused of secrecy after it was revealed that a top civil servant had coronavirus around the same time as Boris Johnson.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill tested positive for Covid-19 on April 2, less than a week after the PM informed the nation he was also struck down with the disease.

It means that Mr Johnson, Sir Mark, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and the PM’s top aide Dominic Cummings were all battling coronavirus at a similar time, putting the normal functioning of government at risk.

Journalists are raising questions over why the information was not made public by No 10 earlier. When asked almost daily at briefings about the state of Sedwill’s health, Downing Street said he was ‘fine’ or working as normal.

Sir Mark Sedwill is the country’s most powerful civil servant (Picture: Rex)

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Sky News Deputy Editor Sam Coates said this matters a huge amount when considered alongside the repeated claims that Boris Johnson was ‘in good spirits’ while he was in intensive care and facing death.

The fact the truth was not made public ‘goes to the heart of whether we can trust officials in the most deadly crisis this country is facing’ he wrote in an analysis piece for Sky.

Though not particularly well known, Sir Mark’s role as Cabinet Secretary makes him effectively the second most powerful figure in government, as he executes the Prime Minister’s will on a daily basis. 

Today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said he had only become aware ‘recently’ of Sir Mark having had coronavirus after he was told by a journalist. 

This is despite the fact he happily answered questions about Sir Mark being fine at the time.

The Cabinet Office maintains it did not lie to journalists, saying that, when reporters asked whether Sir Mark was infected on 27 March, he had no symptoms at that point.

Asked why Sir Mark’s illness and the date he tested positive had been kept from the public, a Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘After experiencing mild symptoms the cabinet secretary tested positive for coronavirus in April. In line with the government’s guidance, the cabinet secretary self-isolated. He continued to lead the civil service’s implementation of the government’s response to coronavirus throughout this period.’

At the time of Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock’s coronavirus diagnosis, Downing Street was criticised for allowing daily press conferences to continue without physical distancing in place while the crisis was underway.

In the last week of March, when the lockdown was imposed, The PM, the health secretary, Sir Mark and Chris Whitty all chose to attend in person.

Ministers have always dismissed accusations that the number of senior officials becoming infected showed they had taken the wrong approach, insisting that it simply demonstrated the indiscriminate nature of the disease.  

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