Gove and Hancock ‘jostle for chief exec role’

THE strain of managing the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has led to claims of tensions between two of the most senior Ministers tackling the crisis.

Colleagues say that Michael Gove is ‘vying’ with Health Secretary Matt Hancock to be Boris Johnson’s ‘chief executive’ on Covid-19 by leading the Cabinet’s approach.

Both Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Mr Hancock chair one of four committees set up to tackle the virus, as well as sit on the daily C- 19 super-committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, which draws the four committees’ findings together in a pan-Whitehall operation. They also take part in the regular emergency Cobra meetings on Covid-19, al s o chaired by Mr Johnson, attended by senior members of the security services.

Mr Hancock’s responsibilities on the health committee extend to critical decisions about boosting NHS capacity before the peak of the epidemic hits, while Mr Gove is focusing on the rest of the public sector’s preparedness. They are joined on C-19 by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is in charge of helping Britons caught up in the crisis overseas, and by rising star Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, who some commentators argue has stolen the limelight from all of them by masterminding the Government’ s multi-billion-pound Covid-19 bailout package.

One source claimed that it was ‘obvious that Michael is vying with Matt and itching to take over’, saying: ‘He sits in the Cabinet Office, which is the natural place to pull all the different strands of a crisis like this together.

‘He has also made some typically double-edged remarks in meetings about the performance of Health in recent weeks.

Another said: ‘Both Michael and Matt seem to be listening for the first cough from Boris – and wondering which of them will step up when he is self-isolating.’

The new ministerial structure was set up by Mr Johnson last week after he told the Cabinet that the pandemic was a ‘war’ that must be won. The dramatic decisions in recent days, including the shutting of all bars and restaurants and the giant Treasury bailout, were taken after C-19 and Cobra heard that the upward curve of the epidemic was not being ‘flattened’ by the Government’s measures – and without further action the UK would be heading for a situation potentially as serious as that in Italy and Spain.

However, last night a source close to Mr Gove said that he was happy for Mr Hancock to be the lead Cabinet Minister. The source said: ‘ Matt is obviously leading the response with the PM. Michael is just chairing a committee on public-sector readiness.’

And a source close to Mr Hancock said: ‘There is no vying – just a lot of work.’