Pandemic Diaries: The inside story of Britain’s battle against Covid

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By the time the self-isolation requirement was removed on Feb 24 2022, 26.4 million people had been told to self-isolate in England. Now, WhatsApp messages reveal for the first time the conversations that were going on about the policy behind the scenes. An initial – heavily redacted – version of former Southend MP Channon’s journals was published in 1967 (Nancy Mitford called them “vile and spiteful and silly”). The latest incarnation, edited by the journalist and broadcaster Simon Heffer, is far racier and more gossipy than the original. There’s also a strong emotional and personal component. Campbell writes honestly about his struggles with addiction and depression, and the strain Westminster put on his family life. There’s even an early impression of Keir Starmer during a 2015 dinner: “Maybe a bit too lawyerly, not instinct-driven, but smart and sorted.” He suggested that the story distracted from a “hatchet job” that Sir Bernard Jenkin had done on “Dido and team” - referring to Baroness Harding - after the Tory MP wrote in The Telegraph about a “vacuum of leadership” at the heart of the testing programme.

Prince Philip has died. A moment of great solemnity. Thank God I knew nothing of the Downing Street party to celebrate his departure. I call Winston Churchill to let him know I think Dunkirk will be fine. No reply. But I don’t do this for the thanks. Nadine Dorries texts to say she feels she is being marginalised. There is no easy way of letting her know that is because she isn’t very able. But somehow I find a way. We are a team. Though every team needs a leader.It’s all a fantasy, if I was responsible for countless deaths and blunders and aware that someone was going to take the fall at some point, I’d write a book making me sounds like a saint too!

Standing in my kitchen in Suffolk after a quiet New Year’s Eve, I scanned my newspaper for clues as to what might be lurking around the corner.’ The Queen has given a superb televised message. I text her to say that, like me, she embodies the spirit of the nation, and it is such a shame she is going to die in September 2022. Casually mention that I went to a meeting with Gina. Have no idea who Gina is until someone reminds me we were at university together. Gina is helping me to make myself more emotionally available to people. I think it’s working, as Boris texts to say how he could not manage without my support. It is self serving but would you expect less of a politician? He’s not afraid to be critical of pretty much everyone especially Cummings with only Van-Tam and Witty coming out of it with their credibility undamaged. Gyles Brandreth’s Breaking the Code offers a perspective on the Major years from an MP who wasn’t sleeping with him at the time. Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown deconstructs the 90s over three volumes. Michael Gove once kept Tony Blair’s A Journey by his bedside. Nigel Lawson memorably said that “the NHS is the closest thing the English people have to a religion” in The View from No 11. And Harold Macmillan remains one of the best diarists to occupy No 10 (and more succinct than Gladstone).Since then, accelerated by the “professionalisation” of politics during the early 20th century, the pressure to hold politicians to account has grown significantly. As Egerton writes, since the post-war period it has been the norm for politicians to “publish an account of their leadership”. It would also, he implied, take the heat out of the “briefed/leaked” news that ministers were looking to make “execs/high net worth individuals” exempt from travel quarantine. They detail her unceremonious booting from the cabinet by Callaghan, her love for Michael Foot, and her contradictory feelings on the notorious (and abandoned) In Place of Strife white paper, which left her adrift from her leftwing comrades. They also expose a more vulnerable side to the woman known as the Red Queen – a vulnerability not often apparent given her determination and rather obstinate reputation. Nevertheless, the 2002 publication of Currie’s book caused a sensation, resulting in a public statement of contrition from Major, in which he said he was “most ashamed”.

Edwina Currie with John Major at the launch of the Conservative European manifesto in 1994. Photograph: PA The Queen Mother is “a fundamentally treacherous character” and Winston Churchill “looks like an angry Buddha”. Amid the undeniably entertaining flourishes there is a much darker side, however - including flagrant antisemitism and support for appeasement in the run up to the second world war. We realised what was happening was of huge consequence that would last for the rest of our lives but … this was an affaire de coeur [affair of the heart] and therefore my political judgment was off.” So, in the spirit of goodwill, here are a few alternative UK political diaries that are more worthy of your time. Drawing on a wealth of never-before-seen material, including official records, his notes at the time and communications with all the key players in Britain’s Covid-19 story, this candid account reveals the inner workings of government during a time of national crisis, reflecting on both the successes and the failures.

Swire has the same talent for indiscretion and waspishness that Channon did. Dominic Cummings looks like an “odd amoeba you find in jars in school science labs”; Gavin Williamson is dismissed as having all the sophistication and intellect of a seven-year-old. Barbara Castle (second from right) campaigns for equal pay in 1954. Photograph: Terry Fincher/Getty Images These are not a great of the genre, but are worth a note for the inclusion of a bombshell: former Tory MP Currie’s admission of a four-year affair with John Major (the former prime minister who was then a government whip). In the present era of 24-hour news and incessant tweeted Westminster intrigue it’s rare for memoirs to drop something as big – although rumours had swirled for a long time, and you might say that Currie’s 1994 novel A Parliamentary Affair was a rather big hint. Replying to this point, a senior civil servant said: “On test and release expecting update today - on high net worth BEIS [Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] lead but we've asked for it.” Now, WhatsApp messages seen by The Telegraph show that a proposal to replace that with five days of testing had been discussed as early as November 2020 - but was not put in place.