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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Ben Quinn Political correspondent

Hancock messages claimed Sunak ‘would have pressured Johnson’ to avoid lockdown

Matt Hancock ​​Rishi Sunak Simon Case Covid-19 Nicola Sturgeon
Matt Hancock
Matt Hancock told the inquiry that Nicola Sturgeon would communicate to the public in ways that were ‘unhelpful and confusing’. Photograph: PA

Rishi Sunak put Boris Johnson under “enormous pressure” not to introduce further Covid restrictions in autumn 2020, Matt Hancock wrote in a message at the time that has been released to the pandemic inquiry.

In a WhatsApp message to the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, the then health secretary asked for information about a meeting on 30 October that he claimed he was “blocked” from attending.

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