[nomadking]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

A Cobra meeting is not simply a meeting co-ordinating different departments. Nor is it a meeting for people to take away woolly investigations and consider potential decisions.

It's about reacting quickly by having all the key decision-makers together.
"The point is to have the important officials in the same place, so quick, decisive action can be taken."
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/cobra-me...t-stand-508755

They're usually chaired by the PM:
"The Prime Minister will usually chair Cobra meetings, and tends to always do so if the crisis at hand is more severe. https://metro.co.uk/2018/03/07/cobra...9/?ito=cbshare
Just to make that clear "The Prime Minister will usually chair the meetings."
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/316037...cobra-meaning/

---------- Post added at 09:31 ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 ----------


At the drop of a hat in many cases. But if the Education Secretary has said they won't re-open soon, then it's all a bit, uhm, academic.

Usually = not always..
Key decision makers = different departments.
9th March, ie before nonsense agenda.

To the public, a Cobra meeting is generally when members of the government meet to discuss the response to a given issue.
...

Who attends Cobra meetings?

Unlike a Cabinet meeting - where frontbenchers meet the prime minister - there is no rigid register for who should attend a Cobra meeting and not even Boris Johnson has to attend.
The composition of any Cobra meeting depends on the issue that is to be discussed.
According to the Institute for Government, it's usually made up of officials and agency personnel, alongside ministers, from relevant departments and agencies.

After any discussion the different departments would then go off and draw up plans and proposals. This situation is very different from many others in that any response takes a bit of planning.

The purpose of a Cobra meeting is to discuss high-level coordination and decision-making in the face of a crisis, according to the Institute for Government. The crisis could be a range of things, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, major industrial accidents, and as coronavirus has demonstrated, threats to public health.

There is more of an immediacy and simple types of response to those other things. Eg the Financial package of support won't have been quick and easy to sort out.