Dominic Cummings has said the UK Cabinet Office was a "bomb site" and "dumpster fire" during the coronavirus pandemic.

Later in the Covid-19 inquiry, he said that an “overall dysfunctional system” was in place during the national emergency.

When asked if there was a part of the UK Government in which he “did not find fault”, Mr Cummings said: “In the summer of 2020 I spent a lot of time talking to special forces and I found that they were exceptional.”

When asked to focus on the overall government structure, he said: “I would say, overall, it’s widespread failure but pockets of excellent people and pockets of excellent teams doing excellent work within an overall dysfunctional system.”

Dominic Cummings dubs Boris Johnson 'trolley'

When asked if everyone in Downing Street referred to Boris Johnson as a "trolley", Mr Cummings confirmed this.

He said that this was largely because he tended to change direction on policy.

Cummings then revealed that the then-PM was visited by "pop-ins" who would convince him to change tact.

He said: "They would wait for me and other people to not be around the prime minister and they would pop in to see the prime minister and say: ‘Dear Prime Minister, I think that this decision really wasn’t the best idea, very brave prime minister. Perhaps you should trolley on it’.”

Dominic Cummings was speaking with the Covid-19 Inquiry because of his key role within the Boris Johnson administration in the early days of the pandemic.

Mr Cummings was the former Prime Minister's top political aide in Downing Street and was granted this role after previously leading Vote Leave in 2016 as well as the Conservative Party's 2019 election campaign.

However, Cummings left this position in November 2020 months after it was revealed that he had broken lockdown rules during a trip to County Durham.

Mr Cummings made the journey by car from London at the end of March 2020 when the Government had instructed people to stay at home.

On Monday, civil servant Martin Reynolds, often dubbed 'Party Marty' for his role in the partygate scandal, gave evidence.

He apologised and said that Government protocols were “inadequate” and “grossly deficient” in the early days of the pandemic.

He said during that period there was an “unusual dynamic” in No 10 and he turned on the “disappearing message function” on a WhatsApp group titled “PM Updates” in April 2021 because of concerns about potential leaks.

Also giving evidence today was Lee Cain, the former Number 10 director of communications.