Matt Hancock issued an apology for every Covid death and told the public inquiry “there isn’t a day that goes by” when he does not think of the dead and their grieving relatives.
The former Health Secretary faced a first bout of questioning before the UK’s Covid-19 Inquiry on Tuesday, and said the country made a “huge error” with the way it planned for pandemics.
In his witness statement, Mr Hancock wrote: “There isn’t a day that goes by that I do not think about all those who lost their lives to this awful disease or the loved ones they have left behind.
“My office in Parliament overlooks the National Memorial Covid Wall. I have visited the wall and been able to read about many of the families affected. I express my deepest sympathies to all those affected.”
Giving live evidence, Mr Hancock acknowledged he was aware after taking up the Health Secretary job in July 2018 that Britain had limited testing capacity, problems with stockpiling antivirals, and preparations were focused on a flu, not coronavirus, pandemic.
Questioned why he had not acted to fix the problems, he said: “I was assured that the UK planning was among the best and in some instances the best in the world.
“Of course with hindsight I wish I had spent that short period of time as health secretary before the pandemic struck also changing the entire attitude to how we respond to pandemics.
“One of the reasons I felt so strongly about the important of this inquiry, and why I’m so emotionally committed to making sure it is a success, with full transparency and total, brutal honesty, answering questions to get to the bottom of this, is because of this huge error in the doctrine that the UK and the whole western world had in how to tackle a pandemic.
“That flawed doctrine underpinned many problems that made it extremely difficult to respond.
“I am profoundly sorry for the impact that had. I’m profoundly sorry for each death that has occurred.
“I also understand why for some it will be hard to take that apology from me. I understand that, I get it.
“It’s honest and heartfelt. I’m not very good at talking about my emotions and how I feel. But that is honest and true, and all I can do is ensure that this inquiry gets to the bottom of it and in the future we learn the right lessons so we stop a pandemic in its tracks much much earlier, and we have systems in place ready to do that.
“I’m worried that they are being dismantled as we speak.”
Arriving at the Inquiry centre in west London, Mr Hancock was faced with images of a dead Covid-19 victim and a demand from a widow to “tell the truth”.
Lorelei King, 69, held images of her husband Vincent Marzello, 72, who died in a care home in March 2020. In one photo, he is pictured meeting Hancock, and it was captioned: "You shook my husband’s hand for your photo op."
In her other hand was an A4 image of her husband’s coffin, captioned: "This was my photo op after your ‘ring of protection’ around care homes."
Ms King insisted Mr Hancock must “tell the truth”, telling reporters: "The bereaved families deserve that much."
Beginning his evidence, Mr Hancock insisted: “I took my responsibilities as the principle responder to a pandemic very seriously.
“As Secretary of State, I felt keenly the responsibility as, essentially, the lead responder in the first instance to these sorts of health emergencies that it was part of my day to day work, because these emergencies happen from time to time.”
Counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith KC made it clear Mr Hancock would not be questioned today on vaccines, PPE supply, test and trace, and other issues that arose when the pandemic began.
The politician will return to give evidence on those topics during later stages of the inquiry.
Last week, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK had been ranked as one of the best in the world for pandemic preparations, but its plans were aimed at coping with deaths rather than preventing the spread of a disease in the first place.
Mr Hancock echoed his comments, saying the UK was “geared towards how to clear up after a disaster, not prevent it.”
He said he had questioned his department’s plans for pandemics after receiving a briefing in August 2018.
“One of the areas I pushed hard on was looking at the UK’s domestic vaccine manufacturing, given the importance of a vaccine in responding to a pandemic”, he said.
“It’s an area I worked on intensively up until the pandemic struck.”
Mr Hancock said the country must be prepared for “wider, earlier, more stringent” lockdowns in the event of future pandemics.
“The failure to plan for that was a much bigger flaw in the strategy than the fact that it was targeted at the wrong disease”, he told the hearing.
“I understand deeply the consequences of lockdown and the negative consequences for many, many people – many of which persist to this day.”
He also acknowledged that Brexit planning had taken resources away from the country’s pandemic planning. “I take full responsibility for the fact that in the face of Brexit and the threats that a disorganised Brexit could do, the resources were moved across the department to focus on that threat, including away from pandemic preparedness-planning.
“This was proposed to me by the permanent secretary and the CMO (chief medical officer), and I signed it off. I regarded the secretary of state’s job not to run the department in terms of resource allocation, but to set the direction, but I signed off that decision.
“The thing is that you face a lot of risks and threats.”
The inquiry continues.
