The Met Police told LFF they had no comment to make.
The campaign group Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) has written to Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, asking for “due consideration in relation to the commission of serious offences in the handling of the pandemic by the government.”
The letter comes after the conclusion of the People’s Covid Inquiry, conducted by KONP and chaired by Michael Mansfield QC. The inquiry found that the NHS went into the pandemic woefully underprepared and under resourced. It also found a number of major failings by the government, including that of “misconduct in public office” by several key ministers.
Referring to the inquiry, the letter states: “The panel was of the clear view that what was disclosed by the evidence, heard over many weeks between February and July, gave reason to be concerned that criminal offences of some gravity had been committed. These events are serious and involve the unnecessary deaths of many thousands of UK citizens.”
The letter to the Commissioner draws attention to two alleged offences committed by government ministers: “One is a statutory offence of corporate manslaughter, where gross negligence has been manifest on a systemic level, and the other is misconduct in public office, a common law offence, which you will note is the title of the KONP report from the People’s Covid Inquiry.”
Dr Tony O’Sullivan, KONP co-chairman, said the Met Police had a duty to investigate ministers over “their reckless misconduct in public office that has caused such death, suffering and damage.”
The Met Police told LFF they had no comment to make.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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