Coco slams Cummings’ sack attack

MATT “Coco” Hancock hit back at Dominic Cummings yesterday, insisting the Government had got better since the PM’S ex-special adviser had left.

The under-fire Health Secretary rejected “Knobo” Cummings’ claim that he was a serial liar who should have been fired up to 20 times over his botched handling of the Covid crisis.

Mr Cummings branded Mr Hancock’s department a “smoking ruin” and said talented underlings in Boris Johnson’s Government were “lions led by donkeys”.

But Mr Hancock said: “These unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true. I have been straight with people in public and in private throughout.

Deliver

“Every day since I began working on the response to this pandemic last January I’ve got up each morning and asked what must I do to protect life.

“We’ve taken an approach of openness, transparency and explanation.”

Coco said people could see that in the six months since Mr Cummings had gone, “governing has become a little easier and we have been able to deliver”.

He said he had updated the Commons 60 times during the pandemic, answering questions from colleagues, the media and the public.

Mr Hancock added: “Sometimes what we’ve had to say hasn’t been easy.

“We’ve had to level with people when it’s been tough, when things have been going in the wrong direction.

“Beyond all this – what matters remains the same – getting vaccinated, getting tested, overcoming this disease and saving lives.”

Knobo claimed the Health Secretary’s public promise to deliver 100,000 tests a day was “incredibly stupid” because it detracted from other anti-virus activity.

But he dismissed Mr Cummings’ criticism of his testing target, saying it was “how you get stuff done in government”, adding: “I am proud of everyone in my department”.

When pressed at last night’s Downing Street press conference if he had told the Prime Minister and Mr Cummings in March 2020 that patients being discharged would all be tested, Hancock said: “My recollection of events is that I committed to delivering that testing for people going from hospital into care homes when we could do it.”