Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Boris Johnson described health secretary Matt Hancock as “totally hopeless”, according to leaked messages spurned former adviser Dominic Cummings has published on his blog.
After Cummings and Hancock both performed a thorough ‘he said, she said’ dance at their respective parliamentary hearings aimed at learning lessons from the coronavirus pandemic last month, Cummings has finally provided “evidence” to substantiate his allegation that Johnson wanted to fire Hancock, something Hancock denied.
In screenshots of what Cummings said was a WhatsApp conversation between him and the Prime Minister in March 2020, Johnson is alleged to have said Hancock was “totally f****** hopeless” in response to Cummings criticising Hancock on ramping up tests in the NHS.
Meanwhile, in another exchange about the struggles to procure ventilators for Covid-19 patients, Johnson reportedly said: “It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless.”
On PPE, something Hancock said was not an issue for the UK during his evidence, Johnson also allegedly wrote:
“I can’t think of anything except taking Hancock off and putting Gove on.”
While Cummings said he would provide evidence to the select committee where he originally made these claims, he did not, causing them and Hancock to give him a slap on the wrist. This is the first time he has substantiated his allegations.
He also repeated claims that Hancock failed to protect care homes, which Hancock denied, that the government’s border policy has contributed to the spread of the Delta variant, and that Hancock lied when he claimed everyone got the care they needed during his evidence hearing last week.
Moving to Johnson’s style in the Cabinet, Cummings said:
“As soon as things get ‘a bit embarrassing’ [he does the whole ‘let’s take it offline’ shtick before shouting ‘forward to victory’, doing a thumbs-up and pegging it out of the room before anybody can disagree.”
He also said Johnson will step down after the next election to “make money and have fun” which may be a good thing because...
“If No 10 is prepared to lie so deeply and widely about such vital issues of life and death last year, it cannot be trusted now either on Covid or any other crucial issue of war and peace,” Cummings wrote.
Responding to the claims, Labour’s Angela Rayner said the claims were “absolutely damning”.
My response to the texts and documents published today by the PM's former senior adviser Dominic Cummings:
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) June 16, 2021
1. These accusations and the evidence presented about the failures at the heart of government - and the alleged lies, dishonesty and cover ups - are absolutely damning.
2. We can't wait until next year for the public inquiry to begin and we can't allow history to be rewritten. In order to get to the truth that public inquiry must begin now.
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) June 16, 2021
3. Any Minister who has been found to have broken the Ministerial Code and lied should and must resign.
Meanwhile, Matt Hancock said he disagreed that he was “hopeless”.
🚨 | NEW: Matt Hancock says he doesn’t think that he is hopeless
— Politics For All (@PoliticsForAlI) June 16, 2021
And teasing in his blog, Cummings added: “Hancock has also given a fictitious account of what happened on masks but I’ll leave that to another day.”
We’ve got the popcorn ready for that day.
