LONDON: Boris Johnson twice described Health Secretary Matt Hancock as “hopeless” early in the coronavirus pandemic, according to private messages published by former aide Dominic Cummings.
Cummings published a series of screenshots purportedly showing WhatsApp exchanges between himself and the Prime Minister to combat what he said are “lies” from No 10.
Downing Street did not dispute the authenticity of the messages, or most of the claims made by Johnson’s former chief aide, but insisted the Prime Minister has full confidence in Hancock.
The blog post exceeding 7,000 words is the latest salvo in a bitter row between the former aide, Johnson and the Health Secretary, who Cummings blames for many failings during the crisis.
He said the initial post shows that “No10/Hancock have repeatedly lied about the failures last year” and accused them of now trying to “rewrite history”.
Cummings, who left Downing Street in November during a power struggle, accused the Prime Minister of now publicly supporting the “fiction” that he has been in agreement with the Health Secretary throughout the pandemic.
But the former chief aide argued the messages show otherwise, as do Johnson’s moves to carve up some of Hancock’s responsibilities and hand them to other individuals.
In one exchange on March 3 last year, Cummings highlighted the US’s rapid increase of testing capacity and criticised Hancock for saying he was “sceptical” about meeting a new UK target having earlier said it would “definitely” be met.
The Prime Minister apparently responded: “Totally f****** hopeless.”
Cummings also published another exchange about the struggles to procure ventilators for Covid-19 patients, saying officials were turning down equipment because of price hikes.
“It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless,” the contact appearing to be Johnson replied on March 27 last year.
In a separate message, the Prime Minister appeared to call the situation around personal protective equipment (PPE) “a disaster” and alluded to diverting some responsibilities to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.
“I can’t think of anything except taking Hancock off and putting Gove on,” Johnson apparently added in the conversation on April 27 last year.
But Cummings described the Cabinet Office as a “total shitshow” and said the move would “have a severe risk of making it worse not better”.“OK. Wtf do we do?,” the Prime Minister allegedly responded.
The messages are Cummings’s first attempt to publish supporting evidence since his select committee appearance where he accused the Health Secretary of lying, failing on care homes and “criminal, disgraceful behaviour” on testing.
Hancock has denied the Brexit campaigner’s allegations and said last week it was “telling” that he was yet to provide the joint Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee with written evidence.
The Health Secretary said he had “no idea” why Cummings had a dispute with him and wanted him fired, while No 10 has said the Prime Minister has confidence in Hancock.
