‘Block funds for MPS who don’t toe line on lockdown’
Hancock plotted to take disability centre ‘off table’ after Red Wall Tory threatened to rebel
MATT HANCOCK discussed a plan to block funding for a new disabled children’s centre as a way of forcing a rebel Tory MP to back new lockdown restrictions, The Lockdown Files show.
Whatsapp messages between the then health secretary and his political aide show a discussion in which they discuss taking “off the table” a plan for a learning disability hub in Bury if James Daly, the local MP, sided against the Government in a key vote.
It came ahead of a vote on Dec 1 2020 in which the Government wanted to introduce a toughened local Covid tier system for England.
The Daily Telegraph has also obtained a Whatsapp message containing an attached list of 95 Conservative MPS thought to be planning to vote against the new tier system and detailing their concerns about it.
The list was referred to by ministers as the vote approached, and there was increasing anxiety about a possible rebellion against the plans from backbench Conservative MPS.
Allan Nixon, Mr Hancock’s political aide overseeing relations with MPS in Parliament, messaged his boss with a suggestion of how to ensure the backing of as many Tory MPS as possible from the 2019 intake – those who had won their seats in the Boris Johnson landslide.
In a message to Mr Hancock sent on Nov 22 2020, Mr Nixon said: “I think we need to dangle our top asks over some of these 2019 intake MPS who are going off the boil this coming week. Thoughts on me suggesting to chief ’s spads that they give us a list of the 2019 intakes thinking of rebelling.
“Eg James Daly wants his Learning Disability Hub in Bury – whips call him up and say health team want to work with him to deliver this but that’ll be off the table if he rebels.”
Mr Nixon went on: “These guys’ reelection hinges on us in a lot of instances, and we know what they want. We should seriously consider using it IMO [in my opinion].”
Mr Hancock gave the proposal the go ahead, responding: “Yes 100%.”
Mr Daly told The Telegraph yesterday that he was “appalled” and “disgusted” that a disability hub he had been campaigning for in his constituency had been discussed as a way of coercing him into voting for the Government. He said he had never received such a call and has never received funding for the hub in his constituency.
Jake Berry, Tory MP for Rossendale and Darwen, called The Telegraph’s revelations an “absolute disgrace”, and said Mr Hancock should be “dragged to the bar of the House of Commons” to explain himself today.
It comes as The Telegraph reveals further Whatsapp messages, which show that Mr Hancock planned to give French Covid patients places in UK hospitals during the second lockdown.
It has also emerged that Sir Chris Whitty told the Government not to introduce an effective “sex ban” during the first lockdown.
Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, has also faced criticism for his part in discussions over lockdown. The Telegraph has disclosed that he described Boris Johnson as “distrusted” and previously revealed that Mr Case described it as “hilarious” that holidaymakers returning to Britain were being “locked up” in hotel rooms.
Current and former senior civil servants described his comments as “naive” and “cringe-worthy” and questioned whether he would remain in post.
The attempts to keep MPS onside are
contained in Whatsapp conversations obtained by The Telegraph – part of more than 100,000 messages leaked to this newspaper and included in The Lockdown Files.
Following the discussion about the disability centre, Mr Hancock messaged his adviser on the morning of the vote, saying that “James Daly is with us”. Mr Nixon then responded, adding the caveat: “If extra hospitality support is forthcoming.”
Mr Nixon had also forwarded his boss a new list of MPS who were undecided on the vote later that day.
In fact, Mr Daly voted against the Government. In total, 55 Conservative MPS opposed the new tiers system, forcing Mr Johnson to rely on Labour abstaining to get the measures through. At the time, it was the biggest rebellion of the Johnson administration.
Mr Daly told The Telegraph he had not been contacted by the whips’ office, the minister or any adviser threatening to withdraw funding if he voted against the plans. “It sounds like the whips didn’t bother,” he said.
The MP said he was surprised that the hub was even being threatened – since, he said, “it never got dangled in the first place”. He added: “Even though I have repeatedly campaigned for [the hub], Hancock never showed the slightest bit of interest in supporting it. I had a number of conversations with Hancock at that time but I can definitively say the hub was never mentioned.”
He said of the messages over the vote: “I think it is appalling. The fact that they would only give a much-needed support for disabled people if I voted for this was absolutely disgusting.”
Mr Daly had spoken of the need for the centre with Mr Hancock some 10 months earlier, in January 2020. In a post on his website, he had published a photograph of himself with Mr Hancock about “how we improve health outcomes for all Bury North residents”.
Mr Daly’s constituency of Bury North is the most marginal seat in the UK mainland, with a majority of just 105.
Three days before the vote in December 2020, Mr Nixon sent a Whatsapp message with an attached list of 95 Conservative MPS that the Whip’s Office had passed to him, detailing with each their concerns and giving a rating on how likely there were to rebel.
It also noted what tier each MP’S constituency would be going into following the vote. In the end, the Government persuaded 37 of the MPS threatening to rebel to vote for the new tier system. A further eight abstained.
The vote on Dec 1, 2020 gave the go-ahead for a tightened system of Covid tiers. The measures plunged most of England into the strictest tiers and were introduced after a monthlong circuit-breaker lockdown as cases rose in the run-up to Christmas.