Former health secretary Matt Hancock has disputed claims that he rejected expert advice on Covid tests for people going into England’s care homes at the start of the pandemic and claims his text messages have been ‘doctored’.
A report in The Telegraph based on a trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApps alleges that he rejected advice to give Covid tests to all care home residents – fiercely denied as a “distorted account” by his spokesman.
The messages were leaked by journalist Isabel Oakeshott after she collaborated with Mr Hancock of his controversial Pandemic Diaries memoir.
The messages show England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty told the then health secretary in April 2020 there should be testing for “all going into care homes”.
But the messages suggest Mr Hancock decided against the initial guidance, telling an aide the move just “muddies the waters”, before introducing mandatory testing for only those coming from hospitals.
But a spokesman for the Tory MP said the was “flat wrong” and based on “doctored” messages and had been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda”.
The spokesman for Mr Hancock said “the Telegraph story is wrong” because he held meetings with officials on the deliverability of care home testing and was told it “wasn’t deliverable”.
They added: “The Telegraph intentionally excluded reference to a meeting with the testing team from the WhatsApp. This is critical, because Matt was supportive of Chris Whitty’s advice, held a meeting on its deliverability, told it wasn’t deliverable, and insisted on testing all those who came from hospitals.”
The Telegraph maintains that the texts were published in full from the start. Sources said they were “baffled” by the suggestion that the messages were doctored.
According the newspaper’s investigation, Mr Hancock expressed concerns that expanding care home testing could “get in the way” of the target of 100,000 daily Covid tests he wanted to hit.
In a one message on 14 April 2020, Mr Hancock said Sir Chris had finished a review and recommended “testing of all going into care homes, and segregation whilst awaiting result”. Mr Hancock described it as “obviously a good positive step”.
However, the investigation said he later responded to aide Allan Nixon: “Tell me if I’m wrong but I would rather leave it out and just commit to test & isolate ALL going into care from hospital. I do not think the community commitment adds anything and it muddies the waters.”
But a key part of a WhatsApp message has been left out of a report by The Telegraph newspaper, Mr Hancock’s spokesman said.
A statement from his spokesman said: “The Telegraph have doctored the messages by excluding a key line from the texts by Allan Nixon. Nixon says, ‘I wasn’t in testing mtg’, which changes the context of the exchange depicted in the article.
“It demonstrates there was a meeting at which advice on deliverability was given. By omitting this, the messages imply Matt simply overruled clinical advice. That is categorically untrue.”
He said Mr Hancock had also convened an operational meeting on delivering testing for care homes on 14 April “where he was advised it was not currently possible to test everyone entering care homes, which he also accepted”.
The spokesman said: “Matt concluded that the testing of people leaving hospital for care homes should be prioritised because of the higher risks of transmission, as it wasn’t possible to mandate everyone going into care homes got tested.”
He added: “It is outrageous that this distorted account of the pandemic is being pushed with partial leaks, spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of lives if followed. What the messages do show is a lot of people working hard to save lives.”
Ms Oakeshott, who has described lockdowns as an “unmitigated disaster”, said she was releasing the messages because it would take “many years” before the end of the official Covid inquiry.
She claimed could be a “colossal whitewash”, adding: “That’s why I’ve decided to release this sensational cache of private communications - because we absolutely cannot wait any longer for answers.”
Mr Hancock is said to be “considering all options” in response to Ms Oakeshott’s leak. A source close to him said: “She’s broken a legal NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Her behaviour is outrageous.”
Former Tory health minister Lord Bethell said Ms Oakeshott was “not a very good friend”, after she leaked the WhatsApp messages. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I think Isabel is a terrific journalist. She’s not a very good friend.”
Sir Keir Starmer attacked Mr Hancock for “portraying himself as a hero” in his memoir. The Labour leader also called on Rishi Sunak to end the “insulting and ghoulish spectacle” by ensuring the Covid Inquiry concludes by the end of 2023.
Answering an urgent question from Labour, health minister Helen Whately told MPs the “importance of testing was never in doubt”, but added “tough decisions about prioritisation had to be made”.
Ms Whately added: “I should mention that selective snippets of WhatsApp conversations give a limited and at times misleading insight into the machinery of government at the time. That is why the Covid inquiry is so important.”
The “lockdown files” investigation also contains claims that officials couriered Jacob Rees-Mogg a Covid test for one of his children while there was a shortage.
In September 2020, during a severe backlog in testing, messages suggest an adviser to Mr Hancock helped get a test sent to Mr Rees-Mogg’s home.
The aide messaged Mr Hancock to say the lab had “lost” the original test for one of the then Commons leader’s children, “so we’ve got a courier going to their family home tonight”.
Commenting on the claim, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “The Covid inquiry must look into reports Conservative ministers were able to get priority access to tests at a time of national shortage.”
Mr Hancock also said to have told former chancellor George Osborne, then editor of the Evening Standard, “I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET!” as he pushed for favourable front-page coverage.
As he battled to meet his own target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day, the investigation shows Mr Hancock texted his former boss Mr Osborne to “call in a favour”.
Mr Hancock said he has thousands of spare testing slots which is “obvs good news about spread of virus” but “hard for my target” as he asked for front page coverage.
Mr Osborne responded: “Yes – of course – all you need to do tomorrow is give some exclusive words to the Standard and I’ll tell the team to splash it.” The then health secretary later added: “I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET!”
