Politics

'Hopeless' Matt Hancock may be cleared of lying over care home Covid tests


Top Tories have rallied to support the Health Secretary after Dominic Cummings said he should have been sacked.

Health SecretarY Matt Hancock
Health Secretary Matt Hancock headed for the House of Commons

Health Secretary Matt Hancock looks set to be cleared of allegations he lied about care home testing failures.

The minister Boris Johnson branded in private WhatsApp message “totally f***ing hopeless” was said by Dominic Cummings to have falsely claimed hospital patients were being tested for Covid before being sent to care homes.

But top Tories have rallied to support Mr Hancock and now Jeremy Hunt, the chairman of a key committee examining pandemic failures, has said unless Mr Cummings can produce hard evidence, his claims will be dismissed.

Mr Cummings, who used his appearance before the Commons’ health and science committee to say Mr Hancock should have been sacked, released WhatsApps sent to him by the PM at the height of the pandemic.







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AFP via Getty Images)



As well as the Tory leader calling his Health Secretary “hopeless”, he said in a message last April that he was considering replacing him with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.

Mr Hunt has said the committee’s report has not yet been written but the lockdown-breaking former aide’s “allegations have not been substantiated”.

“It is not possible to stack up the most sensational revelations without evidence,” he said yesterday. “Today’s new tweets [from Cummings] show the PM’s total frustration but do not prove anyone ‘lied’.”








Jesse Norman was asked about Johnson’s thoughts towards Matt Hancock in the interview
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ITV – GMB)



Downing Street has said the PM has confidence in the Health Secretary but has otherwise refused to weigh in.

Treasury minister Jesse Norman told broadcasters on Thursday that Boris Johnson is “firmly behind” the Health Secretary.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think this is some of the biggest nonsense I’ve heard. The Prime Minister obviously, as anybody would detect, is a massive supporter of the Health Secretary, he’s coming firmly behind him. There can be no question of loss of confidence.”

He later told Sky News the text messages were a “snapshot portrayed in a certain light gave a certain view to people”.

But pressed what impression Mr Johnson gives about his feelings towards Mr Hancock, Mr Norman said: “He gives me the impression of thinking that the Health Secretary is doing a very good job under very difficult circumstances and rightly so.”





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