Lady Hallett, a former senior appeal court judge, has been appointed to chair the public inquiry into the Covid pandemic.
Hallett, 71, a crossbench life peer, was coroner in the inquest into the 7 July 2005 terror attacks on London’s transport network that claimed 52 lives.
Boris Johnson announced the decision in a written statement to parliament on Wednesday afternoon, delivering on a promise to bereaved people to name a chair before Christmas.
The inquiry is due to begin in spring 2022 and is likely to be one of the most complex undertaken in legal history, as it explores a pandemic that has so far led to 146,627 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test.
Johnson told parliament Hallett had run several “high-profile and complex” inquiries and also highlighted her roles as chair of the Iraq fatality investigations and as chair of the 2014 Hallett review of the administrative scheme to deal with IRA suspects known as “on the runs” in Northern Ireland.
She is currently acting as coroner in the inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died in July 2018 following exposure to the nerve agent novichok in Amesbury, which the UK has blamed on Russia.
The prime minister said: “The inquiry will be established under the 2005 Inquiries Act, with full powers, including the power to compel the production of documents and to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath. The inquiry will be held in public. In consultation with Baroness Hallett, I intend to appoint additional panel members in the new year in order that the inquiry has access to the full range of expertise needed to complete its important work.”
The prime minister said he would consult Hallett and ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the inquiry’s terms of reference, which is likely to involve wrestling with how it covers the divergent responses of the devolved nations. The Scottish government has already said it will run its own inquiry.
The draft terms will be published in the new year when Hallett will run a public consultation – including with bereaved families and other affected groups – before they are finalised.
Hallett’s appointment follows a campaign by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, which represents thousands of grieving relatives. It wanted the inquiry to start much earlier to learn lessons for future Covid waves.
Hallett now faces planning for an inquiry into a pandemic that is far from over, amid warnings of a “tidal wave” of the latest Omicron variant.
Matt Fowler, the co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice, said its members hoped to work closely with Hallett. He welcomed her appointment as a positive step in making sure “the terrible suffering and loss of the past 18 months are learned from, to ensure these tragedies are not repeated in the future”.
”Everyone agrees that the focus of the inquiry must be on saving lives in the future, and that means that those who have been most affected, including bereaved families, must be at its heart,” he said. “We must now be fully consulted on the terms of reference, and given core participant status, so that our stories and loss are learned from to protect the lives of others.”
But the group said the inquiry was being established “far too late”.
“We’ve been calling for an inquiry since the end of the first wave, and we will never know how many lives could have been saved had the government had a rapid review phase in summer 2020,” said Fowler. “With the Omicron variant upon us, the inquiry really cannot come soon enough.
“This is a one-off, historic opportunity to learn lessons to protect lives across the country. We cannot afford to get it wrong and we look forward to working closely with Baroness Hallett to make it a success.”
• This article was amended on 16 December 2021. Dawn Sturgess died following exposure to the nerve agent novichok in Amesbury, not Salisbury, as an earlier version said.
