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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the inability of his health secretary, Matt Hancock, to increase coronavirus testing capacity at the start of the pandemic as “totally desperate”, according to private messages released by his former chief adviser.
Dominic Cummings posted his harmful WhatsApp messages block Wednesday. They show that Johnson considered firing Hancock in a message he sent to his former aide on April 27, 2020, revealing that he thought the provision of personal protective equipment was “a disaster.”
Johnson added to the message: “I can’t think of anything but taking out and putting on Hancock [Michael] Forward. “
The comments undermine Downing Street’s insistence that “the prime minister has full confidence in the health secretary,” showing Johnson’s own doubts about Hancock’s capabilities during the health crisis.
On Wednesday in Downing Street he said:[No 10] does not plan to participate in all allegations filed. The Prime Minister has stated that next year we will do an official investigation. . . our focus is on recovering from the pandemic, ”adding that Johnson had full confidence in Hancock.
“The prime minister has worked very closely with the health secretary throughout this pandemic and will continue to do so,” the number 10 said.
In his blog post, Cummings said Johnson had a “clear plan to leave no later than a couple of years after the next election,” adding that he “wants to make money and have fun.” and continue. ”Number 10 rejected the claims as“ total nonsense ”.
In May, Cummings revealed in parliamentary testimony that he had repeatedly demanded the looting of Hancock for failures and “lies” at the start of the pandemic. Hancock has done it denied he never told Johnson a lie.
A second WhatsApp exchange on March 27, 2020 showed Cummings complaining that the health department had rejected fans for price reasons. Johnson replied, “It’s Hancock. He’s been desperate.”
The third exchange took place on the same date showing Cummings complaining that the United States had gone from 2,200 tests a day to 27,000 to 100,000 in just a fortnight. Hancock, on the other hand, was “skeptical” about the UK reaching 10,000 tests a day the following week, according to Cummings.
Johnson replied, “Totally fucked up hopelessly.”
Hancock finally set a goal of 100,000 daily tests in early April, which was met a month later.
Britain’s lack of testing capacity at the start of the crisis has been a focus of criticism of the government.
One of Cummings’ most damaging claims was his suggestion that Hancock reassured Johnson that all people he moved from hospitals to nursing homes it would be tested beforehand, which did not happen. Hancock has defended himself, insisting the tests were done when there was enough capacity.
Cummings said on his blog that Downing Street forced Hancock to create the most ambitious testing plan of 100,000 tests a day.
“Hancock is creating a new version of reality in which he came up with the idea of increasing the evidence before March 14,” he wrote, adding, “Reality: As Part of the Transition to the Plan B, number 10 forced a new testing plan to Hancock, which was still operating under Plan A / herd immunity assumptions the week of 3/16 that community testing made no sense.
The old helper last month accused Johnson of presiding over a chaotic and unprofessional pandemic response that had caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
On his blog, he wrote: “If No10 is prepared to lie so deeply and widely about such vital issues of life or death last year, now neither Covid nor any other crucial issue of war and peace can be trusted.” .
Hancock announced this week that the lifting of the blockade measures would be postponed until 19 July to allow the NHS to inoculate all over-fifties, health workers and the most vulnerable.
Speaking to questions from the Prime Minister, Labor leader Keir Starmer argued that Johnson’s “indecision” in placing India on the red travel list had led to the UK-wide spread of the Delta variant identified by first time in India.
“The British did their bit by following the rules and getting vaccinated. But the prime minister wasted it by letting a new variant into the country, ”he said.
Public health advisers warned earlier on Wednesday that the spread of the Delta variant had accelerated the number of new infections and hospitalizations in the UK.
“What we are seeing at the moment are between 7,000 and 8,000 infections a day. . . But we know that it is less than half of what real infections are in the community, ”Susan Hopkins, deputy director of England’s National Public Health Infection Service, told MPs on a select committee.
He added that without vaccination or social restrictions, the reproductive number could increase to 7 across the country, which means that for every 10 people with coronavirus, 70 more would become infected.
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