SO, WHERE’VE YOU BEEN?
MORGAN CLASHES WITH HANCOCK AFTER NO.10 ENDS 201-DAY BOYCOTT OF ITV’S GOOD MORNING BRITAIN
ITV’S Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan locked horns with Matt Hancock at the end of Downing Street’s 201-day boycott of the show yesterday.
The health secretary appeared days after the resignation of No.10’s former press chief Lee Cain, who had banned ministers from the programme after a series of run-ins with the combative breakfast TV presenter.
But it was Mr Hancock’s resignation Morgan was after as he savaged the government’s handling of the pandemic over the past six months.
‘First question: given that we live in a democracy, where the hell have you all been for the past 201 days?’ Morgan inquired.
‘Well it’s very nice to hear your voice again, Piers, Susanna,’ Mr Hancock replied. ‘ Last week, you asked me to come back as soon as diaries would allow and here I am.’ Morgan played a clip of Mr Hancock telling MPs in January the risk from coronavirus was low and ‘the UK is always well-prepared for these types of outbreaks’.
But Morgan said personal protective equipment (PPE) blunders cost hundreds of health and care workers their lives, while sending thousands of elderly people into care homes without testing caused an ‘epidemic’.
He highlighted reversals on shaking hands, mass gatherings, and said dithering over the first lockdown cost 25,000 lives.
Morgan claimed ministers abandoned contact tracing while pursuing herd immunity, and told Mr Hancock the ‘world class’ testing system was a ‘complete shambles’. He asked: ‘Given we now have over 50,000 deaths in this country, which is the worst death toll in the whole of Europe, why haven’t you offered your resignation?’
Mr Hancock replied by saying testing capacity would double from 500,000-aday ‘over the next few months’ and people were getting results faster and progress was being made on a vaccine.
He said mistakes were made but the challenges were ‘enormous’.
Mr Morgan attacked Mr Cain and his ally Dominic Cummings as ‘boneheaded little twerps’ for imposing a media boycott, which also affected BBC Radio 4’s Today.
He ended by thanking Mr Hancock for the interview and said he hoped it would not be another six months before the next.
‘Lovely to be on,’ the minister told him. ‘He said, lying,’ Morgan joked, adding: ‘Nice to see you.’