PM calls Hancock hopeless in message revealed by Cummings

PA Media

Dominic Cummings has published expletive-laden messages apparently from Boris Johnson, in which the PM brands the health secretary "hopeless".

It is the latest salvo in a bitter war of words between Mr Cummings and Matt Hancock over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The PM's former aide accuses Mr Hancock of trying to rewrite history at a select committee session last week.

And he claims Mr Hancock and the PM had "repeatedly lied about failures".

Mr Hancock denied lying to the prime minister about the testing of hospital patients discharged to care homes at the start of the pandemic in a four hour rebuttal of Mr Cummings's testimony to the committee.

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Mr Cummings has now hit back with a 7,000 word blog post, in which he says Mr Hancock's version of events is "fiction".

It includes screenshots of WhatsApp messages, which appear to show an exchange between Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings on 27 March last year.

Mr Cummings highlights the ramping up of testing capacity in the US and criticises Mr Hancock for saying he was "sceptical" about meeting a target.

Mr Johnson purportedly responds: "Totally [expletive] hopeless."

Mr Cummings also published another private message about the struggle to procure ventilators for Covid-19 patients.

"It's Hancock. He has been hopeless," a contact appearing to be Mr Johnson replied on 27 March last year.

In another message, on 27 April last year, the prime minister appears to call the situation around personal protective equipment (PPE) "a disaster" and alludes to diverting some responsibilities to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.

"I can't think of anything except taking Hancock off and putting Gove on," Mr Johnson apparently adds.

Downing Street has yet to respond to the allegations.

Care home staff

At his appearance last week before the joint health and social care and science committee, Mr Hancock said he had seen no evidence to suggest any medical staff had died because of a lack of PPE.

In his blog, Mr Cummings accuses the health secretary of trying to blame NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the Cabinet Office for last April's "PPE disaster".

"The lack of PPE killed NHS and care home staff in March-May," he writes.

He claims Number 10 and Mr Hancock, had "repeatedly lied about the failures last year" and accuses them of now trying to "rewrite history".

Mr Cummings, who was forced out of his role as chief aide to the prime minister at the end of last year, also claims a promised public inquiry into the Covid crisis would not fix the problems.

"It will not start for years and it is designed to punt the tricky parts until after this PM has gone - unlike other PMs, this one has a clear plan to leave at the latest a couple of years after the next election, he wants to make money and have fun not 'go on and on'," writes Mr Cummings.

But with the Conservatives riding high in the opinion polls, there is no incentive for the party's MPs to move against Mr Johnson, despite the "systemic incompetence" surrounding him, he adds.

Mr Cummings published the alleged leaks on Substack, an online platform that allows people to charge for newsletters.

He has said he plans to charge subscribers for insider information on subjects other than the pandemic.

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June 17, 2021 at 12:19AM

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57498845