THE ALTERATIONS
Example one What Hancock wrote originally
Given how cagey the Chinese have been, I think we have to treat their official version of events – still the Wuhan thing – with considerable scepticism. Imagine there was an outbreak of a deadly new virus in Wiltshire and we shrugged off the fact that the outbreak ‘just so happened’ to be near a little place called Porton Down. We’d be laughed out of town. Global fear of the Chinese must not get in the way of a full investigation into what happened.
Cabinet Office response
This is highly sensitive and would cause problems if released. Must be clearer that it is supposition rather than revealing any confidential information received from inside government. Should also be clear that this is not HMG views or beliefs. The reference to Porton Down is damaging to national security - what is set up as a joke, is one of the attack lines Russia has used against us for the Novichok poisoning, as it is only a few miles from Porton Down to Salisbury (which is entirely coincidental - as, we believe, it is that the Wuhan lab is so close to where the first covid outbreak was recorded).
Text in book
Though the international consensus and the government’s position is that the virus originated at the Wuhan wet market, I remain sceptical. There must be a full investigation into what happened.
Example two What Hancock wrote originally
Germany is also staunchly opposed. Dom Raab says that a recent Foreign Ministers dinner, Berlin argued that China would just produce higher quality vaccines at scale and use them as a diplomatic weapon. “We need to get on the right side of this rather than sit on the fence,” Dom thinks. I agree.
Cabinet Office response
Former ministers should not be divulging positions of other countries made in closed meetings.
Text in book
According to the Foreign Office, Germany is also staunchly opposed.
Example three What Hancock wrote originally
He [Professor Sir Jonathan Van Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer] told me that Taiwanese representatives were trying to get him to criticise the WHO’S links to the Chinese, a temptation he resisted, given the ranks of hatchet faced Communist Party apparatchiks eyeballing him on the screen.
Cabinet Office response
Damaging on Taiwan/china relationship. Suggest removing paragraph.
Text in book
He told me that some representatives were trying to get him to criticise the WHO’S links to the Chinese, a temptation he resisted, given the ranks of hatchet-faced Communist Party apparatchiks eyeballing him on the screen.
Example four What Hancock wrote originally
To me it seems pretty credible. It’s just too much of a coincidence that the pandemic started in the same city as the lab, which – by the way, is a full 40 minutes drive from the wet market originally linked to the outbreak. The only plausible alternative is that the virus was brought to Wuhan to be studied, and then escaped. The Chinese denials are a bit like us claiming that a random virus just happened to break out near a little place called Porton Down, perhaps because of some badgers. It just doesn’t fly.
Cabinet Office response
While the reference to Porton Down is not in breach of national security conventions, the author should be aware that (as mentioned above) Russia has previously used the close geographic proximity between Porton Down and Salisbury to fuel disinformation about the origin of the Novichok used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal, as part of their attempts to deflect from their own culpability.
Text in book
To me, this explanation seems pretty credible. The plausible alternative is that the virus was brought to Wuhan to be studied and then escaped.