{"id":206315,"date":"2020-04-26T14:17:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T14:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=206315"},"modified":"2020-04-30T06:40:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T06:40:29","slug":"attendees-of-sage-meetings-worried-by-presence-of-cummings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=206315","title":{"rendered":"Attendees of Sage meetings worried by presence of Cummings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction \u2013 April 26, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Dominic Cummings (right), Boris Johnson cheif political adviser. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Contrary to official claims that Dominic Cummings attended meetings of the scientific group advising on Covid-19 merely to learn about the science involved, it now transpires that he was an \u201cactive participant\u201d at the meetings.<\/h5>\n
What was he actually doing at Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) meetings? Was he helping to guide the scientists politically in the advice they gave the government?<\/h5>\n
If nothing else this latest revelation suggests that the government\u2019s response isn\u2019t based on objective science alone. The influence of political aides on the scientific advice means that there is political dimension to the crisis. Did Cummings attend the Sage group to see how the crisis could be exploited politically?<\/h5>\n

Attendees of Sage meetings worried by presence of Cummings<\/h1>\n

Felicity Lawrence, Severin Carrell and David Pegg \u2013 The Guardian April 26, 2020<\/h2>\n

The involvement of the prime minister\u2019s chief political adviser, Dominic Cummings<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, in meetings of the scientific group advising the UK government\u2019s response to the coronavirus has left other attendees shocked, concerned and worried for the impartiality of advice, the Guardian can reveal.<\/span><\/p>\n

One attendee of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said they felt Cummings\u2019 interventions had sometimes inappropriately influenced what is supposed to be an impartial scientific process.<\/span><\/p>\n

A second Sage attendee said they were shocked when Cummings first began participating in Sage discussions, in February, because they believed the group should be providing \u201cunadulterated scientific data\u201d without any political input.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s revelation on Friday<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that Sage attendees have included Cummings and Ben Warner, who worked together on the Vote Leave campaign for Brexit, caused a storm of controversy over the weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Downing Street is insisting there is nothing untoward about the pair\u2019s attendance at Sage meetings, saying they are largely taking part as silent observers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is factually wrong and damaging to sensible public debate to imply [Sage] advice is affected by government advisers listening to discussions,\u201d a Downing Street spokesperson said. \u201cIt is entirely right that No 10 advisers attend to better understand the scientific debate and the decisions that need to be taken.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the two other Sage attendees the Guardian spoke to painted a different picture to that presented by No 10, which has been striving to play down the influence of the two advisers. Both Sage attendees declined to be named.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have been concerned sometimes that Sage has become too operational, so we\u2019ve ended up looking as though we are making decisions,\u201d one of them said, making clear that Cummings had been involved on those occasions. \u201cIt contravenes previous guidelines about how you make sure you get impartial scientific advice going through to politicians, who make the decisions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Referring to both Cummings and Warner, the Sage attendee added: \u201cWhen a very senior civil servant or a very well-connected person interrupts, then I don\u2019t think anyone in the room feels the power to stop it. When you get to discussing where advice might be going, there have been occasions where they have been involved, and a couple of times I\u2019ve thought: that\u2019s not what we are supposed to be doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A second Sage attendee said Cummings had played an active role meetings from February onwards. They said they were initially shocked to discover Cummings was taking part in a meeting of supposedly independent scientific experts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not just an observer, he\u2019s listed as an active participant,\u201d the source said. \u201cHe was engaging in conversation and not sitting silently.\u201d The second attendee said Cumming\u2019s involvement was worrying because of his reputation in Whitehall and the questions his participation raises about Sage\u2019s role as a neutral body of expert advisers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Professor Neil Furguson. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

The reaction from the two Sage attendees contrasts with that of Prof Neil Ferguson<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, the Imperial College epidemiologist whose models have played a guiding role in the government\u2019s response to Covid-19. He appeared unconcerned when asked, in a video interview, about Cummings attending Sage meetings. \u201cThere have been a number of observers at those meetings, who have not interfered with business at all,\u201d he replied.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sage membership is not fixed, but changes according to the nature of the crisis being faced. Independent scientific experts on the group are supposed to assess evidence impartially and pass their advice to Cobra, the civil contingencies committee convened in the Cabinet Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advisory group is chaired by the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who also decides which experts take part. Asked whether Vallance had also given his approval to Cummings and Warner coming to his meetings, a government spokesperson said Vallance \u201cwould not have to sign off\u201d observers or representatives from government departments.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chief medical officers and chief scientific advisers from the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are classified as observers on Sage. However, unlike Cummings and Warner, they are unable to ask questions unless they are submitted in writing in advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday, Labour urged the government to ban political advis<\/strong><\/span><\/a>ers from attending Sage<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said there were significant questions for the government to answer over the credibility of its decision-making and how non-scientists have influenced policy.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said Cummings was \u201ca political adviser, not a medical or scientific expert. If the public are to have confidence in Sage, the government must make clear Dominic Cummings can no longer participate or attend.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Conservative former Brexit secretary, David Davis, also criticised the attendance of Cummings and Warner at the Sage meetings<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. \u201cThe whole point of having Sage is you\u2019re getting scientific advice based on the data, based on the best theories, and the best models we have at the time,\u201d he told Sky News. \u201cYou don\u2019t want any outside influences, either direct or indirect, either deliberate or accidental.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However the Conservative chancellor, Sajid Javid, argued it would be \u201cworrying\u201d if Cummings was not present at the Sage\u2019s Covid-19 meetings, and criticised the Guardian\u2019s reporting. \u201cMedia have a hugely important role in holding government to account, but some are courting public mistrust with non-stories,\u201d Javid tweeted<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. \u201cTime to act more responsibly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, said the government does not release the membership of the Sage committee because of the risk of pressure on members: \u201cSage do release their advice subsequently, normally a couple of weeks down the track, so it is properly tested carefully before being put out. We don\u2019t release, as a matter of practice, the names of all the members of Sage because the risk of them being subject to pressure, undue influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists on UK government\u2019s coronavirus advisory group say Dominic Cummings was an active participant at meetings. Was he guiding the scientists politically?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Behind_The_News","category-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=206315"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206322,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206315\/revisions\/206322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=206315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=206315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=206315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}