IN the wake of Dominic Cummings’ explosive appearance before select committees on Wednesday, calls are growing for an immediate public inquiry into the Government’s handling of the pandemic.

Those calls are understandable, especially after yesterday when Health Secretary Matt Hancock plausibly answered questions about whether he had lied over the testing of patients as they were being returned to care homes.

On the one side we have Mr Cummings’ extraordinary claims; on the other, we have Mr Hancock’s defence. Perhaps an inquiry is the only way to tell who is telling the truth.

But this pandemic is not over. In fact, it is developing daily, and our ministers, advisors and scientists have to be fully focussed on the job in hand.

The terribly sad news that 44-year-old Radio Newcastle presenter Lisa Shaw could have died from complications following a vaccination shows how we need the best minds concentrating on what is happening now.

The June 21 date to ease restrictions is now looming large. The Government has to get its call on this right, otherwise we could see another spike in infections as the variant from India takes hold. Surely ministers have to be getting that right rather than working out how to defend themselves against Mr Cummings’ grapeshot at an inquiry.

A public inquiry would not be able to produce immediate conclusions anyway. Perhaps the quirky British constitution has got it right, with the select committees expected to produce their reports in just a couple of weeks.