HANCOCK ON THE RACK
Day after being accused of lying about care home tests, Health Secretary faces bruising press conference
MATT Hancock was on the rack last night after struggling to deny a claim that he had lied about care home testing at the height of the pandemic.
In a highly personal attack on Wednesday, Dominic Cummings said the Health Secretary ‘should have been fired for at least 15 to 20 things, including lying’.
Mr Hancock hit back in the Commons yesterday, saying the allegations levelled against him were ‘not true’. In a pointed barb, he said ‘the operation and functioning of Government has got easier these last six months’ since Mr Cummings left No 10.
But he ducked questions about individual ‘unsubstantiated allegations’ made by the former Vote Leave boss, who made no secret of his dislike for Mr Hancock.
And he struggled to deny a specific claim
‘You’ve got to take responsibility’
that he had told Boris Johnson, Mr Cummings and the then Cabinet secretary Lord Sedwill in March that people would be tested for Covid before being discharged from hospital into care homes.
During a bruising press conference yesterday evening, he said his ‘recollection’ was that he had only promised to implement testing when capacity had been increased sufficiently.
And in an ominous development last night, it was reported Mr Cummings has ‘documentary evidence’ to show Mr Hancock had been summoned to a meeting in early May to ‘explain whether he had misled’ the PM over the issue.
It came as families of care home residents killed in the pandemic called for Mr Hancock to quit.
The Prime Minister last night attempted to throw a protective arm around the Health Secretary after earlier sparking speculation about his future by failing to give Mr Hancock his backing.
A statement released by No10 said: ‘The PM has full confidence in the Health Secretary and will continue working with him to protect public health and save lives.’
Earlier, Mr Johnson had ignored a question from reporters about whether Mr Hancock continued to have his full confidence. However, in the Commons, Mr Hancock received strong backing from Tory MPs. Michael Gove said the Health Secretary had been ‘doing a great job’ and urged people to ‘celebrate’ his presence in Government.
Mr Hancock last night insisted that care homes had always been a priority. But he said limited testing capacity had initially made it impossible to test everyone discharged from hospital.
Asked about the claim made by Mr Cummings, he said: ‘There will be a time when we go back over this in great detail, but my recollection of events is that I committed to deliver that testing when we could do it and then went away and built the testing capacity.’
Nadra Ahmed, executive chairman of the National Care Association, said Mr Hancock’s answer was ‘not a sufficient response to what we could see was going on on the ground’.
She said: ‘I understand his position about not enough testing capacity but then why say you are going to test everybody? We should have been looking at other mitigating ways of making sure the virus did not get into care homes.’
Last night, ITV News reported that Mr Cummings had documents showing Mr Hancock was summoned by the Prime Minister’s office for a meeting on May 4, to explain whether he had misled Mr Cummings, the PM and the then Cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill on testing patients before discharge into care homes. A source told ITV the term ‘negligence’ was used in the documents. Yesterday, families who lost loved ones in care homes called for Mr Hancock to resign.
The heartbroken daughter of a woman who died after an infected patient was sent into her care home told Mr Hancock: ‘You’ve got to take responsibility.’
And the manager of a care home forced to close after the virus killed 27 residents deemed it ‘unthinkable’ the Tory MP should keep his position following the ‘catastrophic’ handling of the pandemic.
Rubbishing Mr Hancock’s reassurances that there had been a ‘protective ring’ around the elderly in care homes, Mr Cummings said the notion was ‘complete nonsense’.
There have been more than 36,000 deaths involving Covid in care homes after the virus ripped through facilities across the UK.
At the start of the crisis, some 25,000 elderly people were discharged from hospitals to care homes without tests.
A string of Daily Mail investigations last year revealed the devastating scale of the ‘hidden epidemic’ of coronavirus in care homes as the Government failed to protect the most vulnerable.
Last night, Jayne Connery, director of Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, said: ‘Lessons were not learnt. There was no ring of steel, the care sector was left to fend for itself. I personally would call for Matt Hancock’s resignation.’
My recollection of events is that I committed to deliver that testing when we could do it and then went away and built the testing capacity