Boris Johnson described Hancock as ‘totally f*cking hopeless’, according to Cummings
Boris Johnson described health secretary Matt Hancock as “hopeless” early in the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, according to a message published by former aide Dominic Cummings.
“Totally fucking hopeless”
Cummings, who has blamed Hancock for failings during the coronavirus response, published a screenshot apparently showing a WhatsApp exchange between himself and the prime minister. On 3 March 2020, the controversial former aide highlighted the US’s ramping up of testing capacity and criticised Hancock for saying he was “sceptical” about meeting a target.
Johnson purportedly responded:
Totally fucking hopeless.
Cummings, who left Downing Street in November during a bitter power struggle in No 10, has targeted much of his criticism since leaving at the health secretary. In a blog post exceeding 7,000 words, Cummings also published another private message about the struggles to procure ventilators for coronavirus patients.
Read on...
Support us and go ad-freeA contact appearing to be Johnson replied on 27 March last year:
It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless
In another message, on 27 April 2020, the prime minister appeared to call the situation around personal protective equipment (PPE) “a disaster” and alluded to diverting some responsibilities to cabinet office minister Michael Gove. Johnson apparently added:
I can’t think of anything except taking Hancock off and putting Gove on
The messages are Cummings’ first attempt to publish supporting evidence since his select committee appearance where he accused the health secretary of lying, failing on care homes, and “criminal, disgraceful behaviour” on testing.
Hancock has denied the Brexit campaigner’s allegations and said last week it was “telling” that he was yet to provide the joint Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee with written evidence.
Support us and go ad-freeWe know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! 😮
It CANNOT BE!!
As soon as I looked at Matt Handcock, I thought to myself – “Boy, that’s looks like a capable person you’d want a serious pandemic to be in the hands of”!
Like Dominic RAAaaaab, you KNOW the dude was top of his classes.
Curious that Dom hasn’t pointed out that at least half the confusion was because the top priority was “Handing wads of cash off the books to brexshit companies”, with the second priority “Handing wads of cash to Conservative party donors and people likely to hand some back quietly”. Actually AQUIRING PPE was fairly low down the list…. – as we saw all too clearly.
It’s worth noting that the entire Cabinet was actually highly efficient and competent in achieving the top two aims there.