Hello and welcome to westminster in review. A lock a look at parliaments role in the corona crisis. Boris johnson got the job he always wanted, but the Job Description had changed. I must level with you and level with the British Public. More families are going to lose loved ones before their time. The Prime Minister was almost one of them as the Global Pandemic landed too close to home. It left him with questions to answer. 65,000 people have lost their lives because of covid19. The Prime Minister welcomed challenge that could save lives rather than complaining about it. It was a crisis that overturned centuries of traditions to change the way westminster works with unexpected results. You are now embracing this. Why apologize. Why are you not doing this . On a wednesday afternoon in late january, a house minister was summoned to answer a question and what was described wuhan Novel Coronavirus threat as the to citizens. It was the first reference in parliament of what was to be come a Global Pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. The minister Lady Blackwood tried to reassure. We are monitoring closely the developments of this virus. Advice from Public Health england and the chief is the risks for u. K. Is currently low. The u. K. Is well prepared for the emergence of novel viruses. The following day, the Health Secretary came to a sparsely attended commons before social distancing restricted numbers, to tell mps that england chief medical officer had revised the risk to the u. K. Population from very low to low. While there is an increased likelihood that cases may rise in this country, we are well prepared and wellequipped to deal with them. The u. K. Is one of the first countries to have developed a world leading test for the new coronavirus. The World Health Organization has warned that countries are not ready for a pandemic. There has been a significant spread of the virus. Across the european continent, italy in particular. Other cases have been identified and austria, croatia and switzerland. This is clearly now very, very serious. Updates becames a regular feature of commons life as the virus spread. The Prime Minister with his own Public Health message. Two verses. Thank you very much. Happy birthday to you six days later, against the downing street backdrop that became increasingly familiar, the tone had changed. I must level with you and level with the British Public, more families many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time. Lockdown arrived 10 days later. Our instruction is simple, stay at home. We are engaged in a Great National effort to beat the virus. Everybody now has it in their power to save lives and protect the nhs. Home is now the front line. Got a taste ofs working from home themselves, as Parliament Brought forward and extended its easter break. The coronavirus act dave sweeping emergency power to the act gave sweeping emergency power to the police, local councils and the nations of the u. K. Coronavirus is the most serious Public Health emergency that world has seen in a century. We are all targets. Fordisease reserves itself the weakest and most vulnerable. To defeat it we are proposing extraordinary measures of the kind never seen before in peacetime. Today, this house is being asked to make decisions of a magnitude i would have never dreamt of only a few weeks ago. I know no member came into this place to put powers like this on to the statute. There were some skeptical voices. Given this bill gives unprecedented powers to states to enforce isolation on people who have committed no crime. Will the secretary of state reassure the house that this house will be fully involved in renewing this once the crisis is over and there wont be any threat in this matter . There were fears the nhs might be overwhelmed by visitors. We have one or two hospitals. Hospitals in inverness. We have been absolutely inundated with people that showed no concern for the local population. The act covered everything from the management of dead bodies to the closure of schools and the postponement parliamentary by elections. It was passed in four sitting days. Fundamentally, this bill is about buying time. You may not think it looking at the alarming chart of the growth of the disease, but time can help us. With each day that passes, its getting better. Her majesty supports this bill. In normal times it would be utterly unacceptable. These are not normal times. We are not just faced with this bill, but we must consider how we, as a parliament, operate in the weeks and months ahead. Parliament disappeared for an extended easter break. When it returned, it was very different. Only 50 mps were allowed in the socially distanced house of commons. Others could contribute via videoconferencing. The lord speaker vacated and was selfisolating. Today, all of our proceedings will be conducted virtually and will be available to broadcasters. As a matter of the interest, i am sharing proceedings from my home in the isle of wight. Crowdingually vote by into two corridors alongside the chamber. It takes 15 minutes for the result to be declared. The first attempt is a new remote system saw the chancellor accidentally vote against his own government. Later, a new former voting chamber led a conga around westminster, in a decision that took 44 minutes and proved a challenge for some. No. Aye. [laughter] Stephen Crabb was not alone. The confusing Voting System was soon replaced by swipe cards with proxy votes for mps unable to attend. The extended break had seen its own drama. The Prime Minister almost died from coronavirus. Initially, Boris Johnson felt isolated in downing street after developing what he said was mild symptoms. I want to bring you up to speed to something that is happening today. I have developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus. That is to say, a temperature and persistent cough. Later, he was rushed to hospital in Central London before being moved to intensive care, where he spent three nights. Others taking Prime Ministers questions. On behalf of my right honorable friend of the Prime Minister i am pleased to tell , the house he is making a good recovery and is in good spirits. By the time Boris Johnson returned to work, he had a new opponent. A new person was elected leader leader of the opposition. At question time, he challenged the Prime Minister over his handling of the pandemic. He plans to track and trace those with the virus. Brushing aside challenge, dashing forward, not estimating the risks. If two thirds of those with covid19 had not been contacted, that is a big problem. Yesterday, the right honorable gentleman was kind enough to say he supported this. Today, as i say, i understand the constraints of the profession of which he used to work. He seems to be yoyoing back into the position of opposition. Which is it . Is he supporting what we are doing or is he against it . I do support the next stage, but the Prime Minister is wrong to reject challenge. 65,000 people have lost their lives because of covid19. The Prime Minister welcomed challenge that could save lives rather than complaining about it. 65,000 refers of to deaths overall. He pursued his argument. After the lockdown eased in the and the hairdressers reopened. The Prime Minister must recognize that huge mistakes have been made. Two months ago i highlighted the weakness of early guidance on care homes. The Prime Minister said its not true. There were repeated warnings from the care sector. Repeated delays in providing protective equipment. This was not hindsight. It was here, day in, day out, week in, week out. It was real time. Testing and the decision to discharge 25,000 people to care homes without tests was clearly a mistake. I understand the disease changed dramatically in the months that we have had it. When you look to the action plan that we brought in to help our care workers, i think you would appreciate the vast amount of work that they have done. The ppe, the basic supplies, the testing provided, it has helped them to get the disease down to record lows. Boris johnson was later to qualify that defense. The Health Crisis swiftly became an economic one, with the bank of england predicting the deepest recession for 300 years. Beenhancellor had chancellor for barely a month before he delivered his third budget in a month. One dominated by the pandemic. At the time, Jeremy Corbyn was still the opposition leader. Whatever extra resort our nhs needs to cope with coronavirus, it will get. So whether its research for a vaccine, recruiting thousands of returning staff, or supporting our brilliant doctors and nurses. Whether its millions of pounds or billions of pounds, whatever it needs or costs, we stand behind our nhs. Opposition leaders wanted more. We are going into this crisis with our Public Services on their knees. As todays figures confirm, with a fundamentally weak economy, which is now flatlining, with zero growth even before the impact of coronavirus. Inmany of these businesses the scotland country over the winter. Its not just an issue that they will see a reduction of business, in some cases they will be desperately short of cash coming in through the doors. Before the ink was dry on his budget, the chancellor was writing more checks, spending hundreds of billions of pounds, including a furlough scheme that saw the government pay the wages of workers laid off due to the crisis. He was back in the commons in early july with what the government insisted was a summer statement rather than a mini budget, and an eyecatching scheme to get the economy going again. For the month of august, we will give everyone in the country an eat out to help out discount. Meals eaten at any participating business, monday to wednesday, will be 50 off, a maximum discount of 10 pounds per head for everyone. Labor was underwhelmed with the overall package. Today, britain shouldve had a back to work budget. Instead, we got this summer statement with many of the Big Decisions put off until later. But others liked the chancellors menu. Im sure the Hospitality Industry will welcome the measures today. Albeit, they are timelimited, i think the close shops may welcome it as well. Boris johnson was not the only senior government figure to contract coronavirus. It also struck the cabinet secretaries, the Health Secretary and the prime s controversial aide, dominic cummings. He was accused of breaking the rules by driving to north east england midlockdown. He refused to resign, but held an unusual press conference and said his wife was worried about their return journey. She said and i think it was perfectly reasonable, she said a few days ago you could barely stand up and you said your eyesight was weird. We should not just embark on a 270 mile journey and then end up finding out halfway through that you cannot drive that far. Scotlands chief medical officer did resign after making two trips to her second home. Northern islands deputy first minister faced down calls to quit after attending the large funeral of a former leading ira figure. And neil ferguson, the scientist known as professor lockdown in some newspapers, did resign as a government advisor after it was revealed he was visited by his girlfriend during the lockdown. Professor ferguson was one of several scientists who became household names as their advice and analysis was seized on. The u. K. Governments chief medical and scientific advisors were often seen flanking the Prime Minister at downing street press conferences. They were in demand from parliamentary committees, too, from the early days of the pandemic. Every year in seasonal flu, thoughter of deaths is to be about 8000 excess deaths. If we can get this down to numbers 220,000 and below, that is a good outcome in terms of down to numbers of 20,000 and below, that is a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak. It is still an enormous number of deaths and pressure on the health service. By the end of april, more than 20,000 people had died from coronavirus. Politicians and scientists began asking if we have locked down too late. Had we introduced lockdown measures earlier, we could have reduced the final death toll by half. By half. We are learning about this virus and the transmission. That was the science committee. Mps on the health and social Care Committee were asking similar questions. When it comes to the timing of the lockdown, are you content that the government follows your advice in terms of the staging of different elements of the lockdown . I am concerned. What you are trying to do is run a very complicated period as a jump on question. Im not trying to give you a yes or no answer to that. Its not an unreasonable to ask, because the government constantly said they were following the science. I am asking you on the crucial question of the timing of the lockdown, or were they following your advice . Im confident the ministers at the time who were put in incredibly difficult positions, in my view, followed the advice signposted through the minutes, at a delay that was law of what you would reasonably except. By july, they admitted that things could have gone better. The u. K. Response to the pandemic is not the most admired in the world. So, in your role have you begun to think about what might be the reasons . Yes, we think about that a lot. Clearly there are things we have to do as we go along to keep learning about whats going on and we have contact with Many International partners. It is very difficult to know exactly where we stand at the moment. It is clear that the outcome has not been good in the u. K. We can be clear about that. England, wales, scotland and Northern Ireland all entered lockdown together in march. There was much talk about four a nation four nations approach, but with different parties in charge of the lockdown rules and the four different nations, the u. K. Began to look like a federal state. Some of the issues were familiar wherever you lived. In scotland, more people died from the virus in care homes than in hospitals. Mistakes were made at the start and they have led to the excess deaths we see today. In light of the tragedy, do you agree that when it comes to testing and care homes, that by any standards this is a failure . I dont. Let me say im not even speaking is first minister, i speaking as a human being. Am i deeply regret every single death from this virus. I think all of us are in the position. I think the very first time i stood in this chamber and talked about what we were dealing with, i said mistakes were made. Stakes would be made. I said i would make mistakes and the gun or would the government would make mistakes. We are dealing with an unprecedented situation. Not a moment goes by that i dont question myself, i dont agonize over the decisions we are taking to make sure we are learning as we are getting these decisions right as possible. I suspect and i hope everybody in a leadership position the world over right now is going through the same process. Nicola sturgeon turned that questioning approach to her counterpart in downing street. When so much is at stake as it is right now, we cannot allow ourselves to be dragged along in the wake of another governments shambolic decisionmaking process. As pressure group, in Northern Ireland, ministers gave a rare joint statement. As of today, we remain subject to restrictions, which no one wants to last a day longer than is absolutely necessary. These are measures we would not contemplate in normal times. We know they are having a significant effect on peoples abilities to live their lives the way they and we want. We are appealing to the public to be patient. We understand that you want your family life back and to be able to socialize with your friends and family. To give your grandchildren a hug. The differences between the four countries were most apparent as the lockdown was lifted. Scotland and wales more cautious than the u. K. Government in england. Your careful approach, in terms of easing the restrictions, has served well in many ways. But you now risk treading the line between being too cautious and too slow on this issue. Why is wales lagging behind when so many other countries have acted so decisively . I reject the language of lagging behind. We are doing the things that are right for wales. That does not mean following anybody else. Just because they have done something that we have decided not to do. Westminster and the uks other parliaments continue to adjust to their new normal. Select committees carried on largely virtually, with some unusual cameos. We are now embracing this, here. Ologize my cat is [laughter] why are you not doing this . The hybrid parliament allowed mps and peers to contribute from their home, their office, or wherever they happened to be. I wonder if i can ask my ask about the engagement she has had in the administration regarding any participation and any future scheme . I am dying to know what the passengers on the train are thinking. You will be a little bit surprised because he is wearing a seatbelt. Thats because he is coming back from a family engagement. First that ank change of would make life more difficult . Joe biden is currently looking more likely to win than trump. But who knows. We are working with republicans and democrats in the United States to make sure they are in bipartisan support for a u. S. Trade deal. Thank you. Safe journey home. Recommendway, i can [indiscernible] lord robison in a taxi, returning from a restaurant. A good one apparently. By july, almost six months after the first confirmed case in the u. K. , the Prime Minister spoke briefly about a return to normality by christmas. The scientists were skeptical. Things will not be done by christmas. This infection is not going away. This is now a human endemic infection. If we have a vaccine or very good treatment, humanity will still be living with this virus for many years to come. The key objective remains to develop a vaccine. Initial trials were encouraging up to a point. Are we going to have a vaccine . For christmas . Im an optimist in life. On the best case scenario, the answer is yes. My job is not to secondguess whether we will or not. Vaccines are an uncertain science. We need to be cautious and careful. We are working very hard on this. I cannot promise anything. His natural optimism, struggling to overcome the reality of the calendar. This was a crisis that began with ministers and their advisors confident the risk to the u. K. Was low. But six months later, Boris Johnson admits his government really have not understood the virus in the early days. The Prime Minister now says there are very open questions about whether lives could have been saved by answering lockdown by entering lockdown sooner. With the death toll approaching 50,000, the families of those who died from coronavirus will be looking for answers in the independent inquiry that will follow. Youve been watching the last Prime Ministers questions for this season. The house of commons is on summer break with the next question time scheduled for early september. We will have the return live on cspan2 with replays on sunday night here on cspan. You can go to cspan. Org and find video of past Prime Ministers questions and other British Public affairs programs. This week, cspans the contenders looks at the lives of 14 men who ran for the presidency and lost, but changed political history. Watch the contenders at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Starting on monday, 1844 president ial candidate, henry clay. Cspan has covered every minute of every political came the engine Convention Since 1984 and we are not stopping now. This months conventions will be like none other in history, with the coronavirus pandemic still looming. Plans for both galleries gatherings have been altered. The Democratic Party will nominate joe biden and President Trump will accept his partys nomination the following week. Watch cspan at 9 00 p. M. For live coverage of the Democratic Convention starting monday, august 17, and the republican Convention Starting monday, august 24. Live streaming and ondemand at cspan. Org, or listen with the free cspan radio app. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Aspen Security Forum also heard from australian Prime Minister scott morrison. He talked about his countrys response to coronavirus. He also discussed security in the Indo Pacific Region and relations with china and india. Good evening, everyone and welcome back to the aspen Security Forum. I