Priti Patel furiously denied the Government pursued a strategy of “herd immunity” in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It comes after Boris Johnson ’s former aide Dominic Cummings claimed No10 originally intended to let the disease spread through the community.
Mr Cummings tweeted that “herd immunity by September” was “'literally the official plan in all documents/graphs/meetings' until it was ditched”.
In a series of tweets, Mr Cummings dismissed Government denials at the time as “b******t”, and said that No 10 had chosen to lie - a move he described as "very foolish" and demonstrating "appalling ethics".
Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance appeared to admit to the strategy last March.
He said: “Our aim is to try and reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely; also, because the vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission, at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.
“Those are the key things we need to do.”
But today the Home Secretary denied it had ever been Government strategy.
"Absolutely not,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr. “Our strategy was always about protecting public health, saving lives and protecting the NHS.
"Absolutely all colleagues involved in those meetings and discussions, working with the chief scientist and the chief medical officers, absolutely recognised that from the very difficult discussions that we had.
"At the time of a crisis, when government is making very, very tough decisions, difficult decisions, we put public life and protecting the public at the forefront of all those decisions."
Dr Jenny Harries, the former deputy chief medical officer for England, said she had not been in any meetings where herd immunity “was put forward at that point of the pandemic as a mechanism of control."
But she admitted she would not have been in the highest level meetings on the pandemic at the time.
Mr Cummings hinted he had documentary evidence to back his assertions which he could potentially produce when he appears on Wednesday before the Commons health and science committees.
"'Herd immunity by September' was 'literally the official plan in all documents/graphs/meetings' until it was ditched," he tweeted.
"In week of March 9, No10 was made aware by various people that the official plan would lead to catastrophe. It was then replaced by Plan B.
"But how 'herd immunity by September' could have been the plan until that week is a fundamental issue in the whole disaster."
No10 is braced for Mr Cummings' appearance before MPs on Wednesday. The renegade ex-official is due to give evidence to a joint session of the Commons Health and Science Select Committees.
A “friend” of Mr Cummings suggested he would be brutal about Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
“He thinks Hancock lied repeatedly throughout the pandemic, which made everything much more difficult. He will explain why he tried to get him fired,” the friend told the Sunday Times.
