Health secretary Matt Hancock is appearing before parliament and hosting a press conference. This follows claims from the PM’s former adviser Dominic Cummings regarding the handling of the pandemic.
Matt Hancock is facing MPs over allegations by the former aide in his appearance before a parliamentary committee. Cummings claimed that Hancock lied and performed “disastrously” during the Covid pandemic.
In a damning testimony, Cummings singled out Hancock, saying he suggested the prime minister should have fired him. According to Cummings there are “at least 15 to 20 things” he did, “including lying to everybody on multiple occasions”. He claims the cabinet secretary at the time, Mark Sedwill, also agreed.
Cummings accuses Hancock of having an obsession with meeting his set target of 100,000 Covid tests a day. He was focussed on having something he could use to prove his success in television interviews. Instead of concentrating on Cumming’s task of building a test and trace system capable of processing a million tests a day, Hancock apparently diverted attention away, telling them to “down tools” and “hold back”, so he could hit his target. This caused friction, as Cummings wanted officials to not listen to Hancock, and “build the thing properly”. This alone should have been enough of a reason to fire Hancock. Cummings says, “it was criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm.”
Cummings also says he warned the prime minister that “we are going to kill people and it’s going to be a catastrophe”, if he did not fire Hancock.
“Busy saving lives”
Hancock says he did not see the full evidence from Cummings to the MPs, as he was busy “saving lives” by dealing with the vaccine rollout. The vaccination programme is now open to all people in England over the age of 30.
A spokesperson for Hancock says that throughout the pandemic everyone “worked incredibly hard in unprecedented circumstances to protect the NHS and save lives”. They “absolutely reject Mr Cummings’ claims about the health secretary.”
Meanwhile, Matt Hancock was not the only one Cummings implicated. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also came under fire. The PM is likely to face questions of his own after the explosive evidence from his once close aide.
Cummings claims the prime minister is “unfit” for the job and that “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to” because of the government’s failings. At the start of the pandemic, Johnson allegedly dismissed coronavirus as a “scare story”, as it started to take over the world in early 2020. When a global crisis loomed, the PM said he wanted to be injected with the virus on television in an attempt to calm the nation.
Despite all of Cummings allegations, the prime minister still continues to have confidence in Hancock, and the pair are “working closely” to save lives.
Chaotic scenes at No.10
Cummings’ accusations are taken with a pinch of salt, as people view him as bitter over his own treatment. At the height of the pandemic, Cummings was a prominent figure at No.10. He describes Downing Street as chaotic and “surreal” in the early days of the crisis. There is also of course still controversy over his own questionable behaviour. He is not the most reliable witness.
Since Cummings’ evidence, calls are for the public inquiry to be brought forward.
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