Sir Chris Whitty has been accused of “obscene hypocrisy” after privately backing a doctor who breached Covid rules during the height of lockdown.
As the public was instructed to wash their hands and stay at home, Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, was on a train visiting her second home.
And now it emerged that Sir Chris, England’s chief medical officer and the man who made the rules, supported her behind closed doors.
Other senior officials, including Sir Jonathan Van Tam, also told Dr Calderwood via WhatsApp that she was “doing a fantastic job”, while Sir Michael McBride, Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer, urged Dr Calderwood to “ignore” damning reports.
Sir Chris, who remains England’s chief medical officer, had said before Calderwood’s resignation that he agreed with a message from Sir Frank Atherton, Wales’ chief medical officer, who criticized a story in The Sun revealing his failure to comply. the rules.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty leaves after presenting evidence for Module 3 of the UK’s Covid-19 investigation at Dorland House in London.
A map indicates the distance between Dr Calderwood’s two homes: Earlsferry, Fife, is 44 miles from Edinburgh, a journey of about an hour. Calderwood traveled this distance to visit his second home even though strict Covid rules prevented this at the time.
Dr Calderwood resigned later that day after a difficult-to-watch press conference she held with Ms Sturgeon in which Scotland’s then-chief medical officer struggled to defend her own actions.
He apologized live on television after receiving a police warning for twice visiting his family’s coastal retreat in Earlsferry, Fife, more than 40 miles from their main home, adding that his actions were “a human error” and that ” There were no excuses.” .
Responding to the recent revelations, Scottish group Covid Bereaved’s senior lawyer Aamer Anwar said the UK’s most senior medical officials had shown “obscene hypocrisy”, the Telegraph reports.
He said: “While ordinary mortals faced court proceedings, were unable to attend funerals or were denied the right to be with their loved ones taking their last breath, time and again, people like Dr Calderwood have been exposed for their shameful arrogance and double standards. .
“Public trust has been so eroded by the actions of some of our officials and politicians that it is difficult to understand ordinary people obeying the rules in an inevitable future pandemic.”
Dr Calderwood had initially received backing from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to remain in office.
However, after further conversations with Ms Sturgeon, the doctor eventually said he had resigned “with a heavy heart”, agreeing that “justifiably focusing on my behavior risks becoming a distraction from a job of enormous importance”.
The Scottish First Minister said it was “far from ideal” to have lost Dr Catherine Calderwood’s expertise.
Sturgeon added that she had been “trying to make the best judgments” after initially trying to keep Dr Calderwood in the role, before finally admitting she had to leave.
MailOnline has contacted Sir Chris Whitty for comment.