{"id":181582,"date":"2021-05-27T08:17:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T08:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1435093"},"modified":"2021-05-27T08:17:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T08:17:04","slug":"hancock-to-face-mps-over-cummings-explosive-claims-he-lied-about-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/27\/hancock-to-face-mps-over-cummings-explosive-claims-he-lied-about-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Hancock to face MPs over Cummings\u2019 explosive claims he lied about coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Health secretary Matt Hancock will face MPs and the media to respond to claims from Dominic Cummings that he lied to colleagues and should have been fired for his disastrous performance in the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Hancock didn&#8217;t comment on former No 10 aide Cummings\u2019 explosive claims ahead of his Commons appearance and Downing Street press conference, saying he was \u201cjust off to drive forward the vaccine programme\u201d as he left his north-west London home.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START StreamAMG --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"0_yng3w3ys\" data-urn=\"urn:pressassociation:video:103660\">\n<div style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-block; position: relative;\">\n<div id=\"dummy\" style=\"margin-top: 56.25%;\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"kaltura_player_4082008224\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;\" data-player-config=\"{&quot;partner&quot;: &quot;3001090&quot;, &quot;uiConf&quot;: &quot;30024158&quot;, &quot;entryId&quot;: &quot;0_yng3w3ys&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/pa.streamamg.com\/player-embed\/loader.js\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END StreamAMG --><\/p>\n<p>Cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick said he was sorry for the Government\u2019s \u201cerrors and mistakes\u201d during the pandemic but insisted Hancock and his department had worked \u201cincredibly hard\u201d during the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The fallout continued from Cummings\u2019 seven-hour evidence session to MPs, during which he claimed his former boss Boris Johnson was \u201cunfit\u201d to lead and his Government\u2019s failures had led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from his damning assessment of the prime minister, Cummings saved his fiercest criticism for Hancock. And this was over failings around care homes policy, personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement and his public pledge on a testing target which caused disruption in Whitehall.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START StreamAMG --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"0_501gje84\" data-urn=\"urn:pressassociation:video:103573\">\n<div style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-block; position: relative;\">\n<div id=\"dummy\" style=\"margin-top: 56.25%;\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"kaltura_player_6316866468\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;\" data-player-config=\"{&quot;partner&quot;: &quot;3001090&quot;, &quot;uiConf&quot;: &quot;30024158&quot;, &quot;entryId&quot;: &quot;0_501gje84&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/pa.streamamg.com\/player-embed\/loader.js\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END StreamAMG --><\/p>\n<p>Communities secretary Jenrick told <em>Sky News<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I think the Department for Health and the Health Secretary have worked exceptionally hard over the course of this pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>This was an unprecedented situation, it was a national effort involving all parts of Government in all parts of the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Asked whether he thought Hancock had lied on multiple occasions, as Cummings alleged, Jenrick said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>That\u2019s not my experience.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But he admitted:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>there were things we, with the benefit of hindsight, could have done better to protect people in care homes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"pa-embed\" data-type=\"quote\" data-quote=\"Nobody, I think, could doubt for one moment that the Prime Minister was doing anything other than acting with the best of motives with the information and the advice that was available to him\" data-source=\"Robert Jenrick, Communities Secretary\"><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<p>Cummings blamed Hancock, telling MPs on Wednesday that the prime minister had been told \u201ccategorically in March that people will be tested before they went back to care homes\u201d from hospital.<\/p>\n<p>It was \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d to claim the Government had put a shield around care homes, Cummings claimed, but Jenrick insisted:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>it\u2019s not correct to say that we didn\u2019t do everything we possibly could to protect both the residents and the people who work in care homes, with the imperfect information we had available to us at the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Responding to Cummings\u2019 assessment that the pandemic demonstrated a country of \u201clions led by donkeys\u201d, Jenrick told <em>BBC Breakfast<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Well I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a fair assessment of what happened.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!-- EMBED START StreamAMG --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"0_u29wdeec\" data-urn=\"urn:pressassociation:video:103657\">\n<div style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-block; position: relative;\">\n<div id=\"dummy\" style=\"margin-top: 56.25%;\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"kaltura_player_6366723756\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;\" data-player-config=\"{&quot;partner&quot;: &quot;3001090&quot;, &quot;uiConf&quot;: &quot;30024158&quot;, &quot;entryId&quot;: &quot;0_u29wdeec&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/pa.streamamg.com\/player-embed\/loader.js\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END StreamAMG --><\/p>\n<p>He added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I think the Prime Minister led the country through this with huge determination and resilience.<\/p>\n<p>He himself almost died of Covid at one point, bounced back, got back into running the country incredibly quickly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Jenrick rejected the claim that \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of people died unnecessarily during the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Asked directly whether he thinks that claim is wrong, he told <em>BBC Radio 4<\/em>\u2019s <em>Today<\/em> programme:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Yes, I think it is, because you have to remember that we didn\u2019t have all of the facts at the time that the decisions were being taken.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody, I think, could doubt for one moment that the Prime Minister was doing anything other than acting with the best of motives with the information and the advice that was available to him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Jenrick refused to say whether or not Cummings was a reliable source of information about the Government\u2019s handling of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START Image --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"embedded260018261\"><img src=\"https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/0f9861014d0be15b52e63a32ce718761Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTg4NzA5\/2.60018261.jpg?w=640\" sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/0f9861014d0be15b52e63a32ce718761Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTg4NzA5\/2.60018261.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/0f9861014d0be15b52e63a32ce718761Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTg4NzA5\/2.60018261.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/0f9861014d0be15b52e63a32ce718761Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTg4NzA5\/2.60018261.jpg?w=1280 1280w\" alt=\"Dominic Cumming\" data-title=\"Dominic Cummings quizzed by MPs\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"House of Commons\" data-usage-terms=\"HOUSE OF COMMONS EDITORIAL USE ONLY. THIS IMAGE MUST NOT BE USED FOR PARTY POLITICAL PURPOSES. CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER.\" \/><figcaption>Dominic Cummings giving evidence (House of Commons\/PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END Image --><\/p>\n<p>Jenrick said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He\u2019s now left government, and you heard him give his side of events, which he is completely at liberty to do,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Cummings said Hancock should have been sacked on 15 to 20 occasions and Whitehall\u2019s top mandarin at the time Sir Mark Sedwill had \u201clost confidence in the Secretary of State\u2019s honesty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for Hancock said \u201cwe absolutely reject\u201d the criticisms made by Cummings.<\/p>\n<p>Downing Street said on Wednesday Hancock continued to have the confidence of the prime minister and the pair were \u201cworking closely\u201d to save lives.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, meanwhile, is likely to face questions of his own about the explosive evidence from his once-closest aide when he visits a hospital on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>As well as being branded unfit for office, it was alleged Johnson dismissed the pandemic as a \u201cscare story\u201d or the new \u201cswine flu\u201d in early 2020 as the global crisis loomed and wanted to be injected with Covid-19 on television in a bid to calm the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Cummings, who was ousted from No 10 late last year as part of a behind-the-scenes power struggle, said that, by the end of October 2020, his relationship with Johnson had deteriorated due to the prime minister\u2019s delays to ordering an autumn lockdown that could have prevented deaths.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START Image --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"embedded260024432\"><img src=\"https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/f9e234ad186dfe272c5d9e136f26e5eaY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTU3NDU2\/2.60024432.jpg?w=640\" sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/f9e234ad186dfe272c5d9e136f26e5eaY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTU3NDU2\/2.60024432.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/f9e234ad186dfe272c5d9e136f26e5eaY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTU3NDU2\/2.60024432.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/image.assets.pressassociation.io\/v2\/image\/production\/f9e234ad186dfe272c5d9e136f26e5eaY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjIyMTU3NDU2\/2.60024432.jpg?w=1280 1280w\" alt=\"The Prime Minister was criticised as 'unfit' for the job by his former aide Dominic Cummings\" data-title=\"Prime Minister\u2019s Questions\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Media\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Media\" data-credit=\"UK Parliament\/Jessica Taylor\" data-usage-terms=\"PICTURE DESK USE ONLY. NO SALES\" \/><figcaption>The Prime Minister was criticised as \u2018unfit\u2019 for the job by his former aide Dominic Cummings (UK Parliament\/Jessica Taylor\/PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END Image --><\/p>\n<p>He said that he:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>fundamentally regarded him as unfit for the job\u201d and that he was attempting to make changes to the \u201cstructure around him to try and stop what I thought were extremely bad decisions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Offering his version of events of the outset of the pandemic in Britain, Cummings described his mounting panic about the situation in March 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The 49-year-old said there was no plan in place for a lockdown or measures to protect the most vulnerable and quoted deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara who, he claimed, told him she thought the country was:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>absolutely f*****\u201d and that \u201cwe\u2019re going to kill thousands of people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The first lockdown was finally implemented on March 23, but Cummings said the prime minister later regretted the move.<\/p>\n<p>Similar mistakes were made in September as Johnson was urged by Government scientists to impose a second lockdown but he resisted because of economic concerns, instead opting to \u201chit and hope\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he had heard Johnson say he would rather see \u201cbodies pile high\u201d than impose a third lockdown on the nation, Cummings said: \u201cI heard that in the prime minister\u2019s study,\u201d describing <em>BBC<\/em> reporting of the incident as \u201caccurate\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><!-- TRACKING START GA --><script>(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','\/\/www.google-analytics.com\/analytics.js','ga');  ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'}); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By David Hughes and Geraldine Scott, PA'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '1b12bf40-d80a-4305-a88f-2c677bd1779c'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:news,paservice:news:uk'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', null); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'anonymizeIp', true); ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Hancock to face MPs over Cummingsu2019 explosive claims he lied about coronavirus'});<\/script><!-- TRACKING END GA --><\/p>\n<p>By <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/author\/thecanary\/\">The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/uk\/2021\/05\/27\/hancock-to-face-mps-over-cummings-explosive-claims-he-lied-about-coronavirus\/\">The Canary<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health secretary Matt Hancock will face MPs and the media to respond to claims from Dominic Cummings that he lied to colleagues and should \u2026 <\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/uk\/2021\/05\/27\/hancock-to-face-mps-over-cummings-explosive-claims-he-lied-about-coronavirus\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<p>By <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/author\/thecanary\/\">The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1541,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,15146,8515,4,1395],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181586,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181582\/revisions\/181586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}