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Sabtu, 04 Maret 2023

Matt Hancock's reaction to photo of kiss with aide revealed in text leak - BBC

By Ione Wells & Jasmine Andersson

BBC News

Matt Hancock and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke Covid guidance when he kissed his aide, leaked messages in the Telegraph show.

The WhatsApp messages were sent after the Sun newspaper published a photo of Mr Hancock kissing Gina Coladangelo.

His spokesman said there was "nothing new" in the messages and "absolutely no public interest" in publishing them.

"It's highly intrusive, completely inappropriate and has all been discussed endlessly before," he added.

The spokesman said the public coronavirus inquiry had been given access to all the messages.

The BBC has not seen or independently verified the messages nor the context in which they were sent.

The latest 41-hour WhatsApp exchange details how the ex-health secretary and Ms Coladangelo were left reeling as the revelations unfolded.

The liaison between the pair provoked strong fury as it showed that Mr Hancock had broke his own lockdown restrictions, which were introduced to curb the spread of Covid.

As he awaited the publication of the photos, he texted a special adviser, asking: "How bad are the pics?"

Reacting to the video of him and the former aide kissing obtained by the Sun, Mr Hancock then said: "Crikey. Not sure there's much news value in that and I can't say it's very enjoyable viewing."

The messages show Mr Hancock asked his special adviser at the time Damon Poole to "keep the focus" on Ms Coladangelo's appointment.

Ms Coladangelo worked as a paid adviser for the government, acting as a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care at the time.

The then health secretary also asked if another minister could emphasise that "no rules have been broken".

Mr Poole asked Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo to think "really hard" about whether they could have broken any Covid rules.

Referring to the social distancing rule to keep 1m apart from others when 2m was not possible, Mr Hancock said: "Other than obviously the 1m+ I honestly can't think of any."

He added: "The worst they can do is 'kissed before they legalised hugs'."

But then Mr Hancock asked his adviser to clarify what exactly the rules were at the time of the photograph.

The two of them then exchanged plans for how they could respond to media coverage.

This ranged from acknowledging he "breached the social distancing rules" - which Matt Hancock said he didn't think he could do, adding, "I think I just went against the clinical advice" - to saying that "no rules were broken".

In one exchange, Matt Hancock cited social distancing guidance for workers at the time saying that workers should "maintain social distancing guidelines wherever possible", to which his adviser responded: "Yes, but it was possible. Clearly. From the picture."

And in a separate published exchange, Matt Hancock sought the advice of the former chancellor George Osborne about a video statement he was due to put out announcing his resignation.

Mr Osborne said it was "good" but suggests he probably wants to "include the apology to your loved ones you have in the letter".

He eventually resigned over the matter, publishing a video on his Twitter page.

Jo Tanner, a former adviser to Boris Johnson, said that politicians have a tendency to "think they're a bit superhuman" when they are asked to apologise for their actions.

"People in these roles can be quite bullish... so actually getting them to be human can be quite a challenge," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "They almost think that they're a bit superhuman and they can get away with it.

"You can see a bit of that in the approach Matt Hancock was taking."

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In a separate leaked conversation, Mr Hancock criticised Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme, dubbing it "eat out to help the virus get about".

The Treasury paid £840m to fund the scheme in August 2020, which offered 50% off food and drink as part of then-Chancellor Mr Sunak's economic recovery plan after the end of the first Covid lockdown.

In the WhatsApp message exchange from the month of the launch, Mr Hancock said the scheme was "causing problems in our [intervention] areas" - areas that were under additional government restrictions because they had a higher number of Covid cases.

He later said he used the scheme and was "thanked by the other diners".

The WhatsApp leaks

A collection of more than 100,000 messages sent between former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic have been obtained by the Telegraph. Here are our stories on the leaks:

Kamis, 02 Maret 2023

Matt Hancock: Eight government WhatsApp Covid messages revealed - BBC

By Andre Rhoden-Paul & Sean Seddon

BBC News

WhatsApp messages sent by Matt Hancock when he was health secretary during the pandemic have been revealed.

The messages, including conversations with ministers and officials, provide an insight into the inner workings of government at the height of the pandemic.

Here are a few of the private texts published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The BBC has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages nor the context in which they were sent.

1. 'What a bunch of absolute arses'

After congratulating the then education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson on delaying A-level exams for a few weeks - a shorter period than some teaching unions called for - Mr Hancock had some choice words.

On 1 October 2020, Mr Hancock messaged Sir Gavin: "Cracking announcement today. What a bunch of absolute arses the teaching unions are."

Sir Gavin replied: "I know they really really do just hate work."

In response, Mr Hancock returned two laughing out loud and a bullseye emoji.

2. 'I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET'

Mr Hancock texted his old boss George Osborne, ex-chancellor and then-Evening Standard editor, on 28 April 2020 to "call in a favour" asking for a favourable front page, as he tried to reach his own deadline to reach 100,000 daily Covid tests.

Mr Osborne replied: "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."

After replying with a quote, Hancock later writes in capital letters: "I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET!"

The editor answered bluntly: "I gathered."

In another interaction, on 9 November 2020 Mr Hancock asked for an explanation about Mr Osborne calling for Boris Johnson to make testing his number one priority and insisted: "OK but mass testing is going very well."

"No-one thinks testing is going well, Matt," Mr Osborne replied.

3. 'They want an excuse to avoid having to teach'

Sir Gavin, messaging Mr Hancock, on 10 May 2020 ahead of schools reopening, asked for the health secretary's help in getting personal protective equipment (PPE) for schools "as a last resort so they can't use it as a reason not to open".

The education secretary texted: "All of them will [open] but some will just want to say they can't so they have an excuse to avoid having to teach, what joys!!!"

4. 'Dying from Covid is as big as your risk falling down stairs'

Boris Johnson had misgivings about the government's shielding advice in discussions with the chief medical officer Prof Sir Chris Whitty. In August 2020 the then-prime minister suggested that if renewed lockdown restrictions were needed over-65s be offered a choice on shielding.

Mr Johnson, addressing Sir Chris in a WhatsApp group on 9 August, said: "If you are over 65 your risk of dying from Covid is probably as big as your risk of falling down stairs. And we don't stop older people from using stairs. What do you think?"

Sir Chris conceded that he "would think twice before shielding unless it threatened the NHS". Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance replied: "We haven't found shielding easy or very effective first time round."

Only a few days previously, shielding had ended for more than two million clinically vulnerable people in England, Scotland and Wales. Since March 2020 they had been advised to stay at home to avoid contracting Covid. Shielding later returned.

5. Testing is working 'for MOST'

Helen Whately, who was social care minister at the time, travelled 50 miles to a Covid test centre so a relative could be tested in September 2020, according to the Telegraph. There were restricted numbers of home testing kits and the public had to book a slot at a testing centre, where they could swab themselves and it would be sent to a laboratory.

Speaking of the experience on 19 September, she messaged Mr Hancock: "So my mystery shopping shows the system is definitely working, at least for some."

Mr Hancock enthusiastically replied "for MOST!", despite UK labs struggling to keep with demand and people being asked to travel hundreds of miles to get tested.

6. 'Williamson needs a haircut'

Mr Hancock clashed with Sir Gavin over whether to close schools ahead of their return January 2021.

In private WhatsApp messages with a special adviser, he said he had to take "rear guard action" to ensure schools did not open, while the then-education secretary was battling to keep children in school.

During a meeting on Zoom on 28 December 2020 to decide on the fate of students, Mr Hancock and his special adviser Emma Dean appeared to send each other messages commenting on the call, according to the Telegraph.

Ms Dean said: He's [Sir Gavin] freaking out. You can tell he isn't being wholly rational."

Mr Hancock got his way as schools closed days later amid a national lockdown.

In an earlier exchange in September the pairtook aim at Sir Gavin following the education secretary being forced to abandon A-level and GCSE students being given grades by algorithm.

Replying to Ms Dean's suggestion Gavin looked awful and questioning if the education secretary was OK, Mr Hancock said: "He needs a haircut and a holiday somewhere other than Scarborough!"

7. 'Drinks cold in the fridge'

During the May 2020 drive to hit the 100,000 tests per day target, trucks full were bought from Amazon.

Mr Hancock was worried the government could look "flaky" if it was accused of using them to pad the stats.

But there was jubilation when the target was hit - not least from Gina Coladangelo, the aide with whom Mr Hancock had an affair.

She messaged: "Drinks cold in fridge at [Department for Health]. Feel free to open them before we are back [beer emoji]".

But problems continued. Mr Johnson admitted in June he was "going quietly crackers" over capacity, asking "what is wrong with us as a country that we can't fix this?".

In September, Mr Hancock was advised to avoid an interview with Andrew Neil "because he could go hard on testing".

8. 'Eh'

One set of messages shows Boris Johnson getting in a muddle over statistics.

He flagged a Financial Times article stating the global case fatality rate had fallen below 0.04. Mr Johnson wanted to know why the British death rate appeared to be much higher at 4%.

Chief scientific officer Sir Patrick, chief medical officer Sir Chris, aide Dominic Cummings, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and Mr Hancock all chipped in.

When Mr Vallance eventually pointed out the FT figure is a probability, not a percentage, the PM replied "Eh" followed by another message reading simply "?".

He offers "five marks" to whoever can explain the difference and asks them to "show working" - before Mr Cummings assures him it is a "common confusion".

In the same exchange, Mr Johnson says he "knows what I would prefer" if he was 80 and given a choice between exposure to Covid-19 and "destroying the economy".

The WhatsApp leaks

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Matt Hancock disputes claim he rejected care home Covid advice - BBC

FILE PHOTO: British Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock speaks at a memorial tree planting ceremony at Oxford Botanic Gardens, following a G7 health ministers meeting, ahead of the G7 leaders' summit, at Mansfield College, Oxford University in Oxford, Britain June 4, 2021

By Christy Cooney & Becky Morton

BBC News

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has disputed claims he rejected expert advice on Covid tests for people going into care homes in England at the start of the pandemic.

WhatsApp messages leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper suggest Mr Hancock was told in April 2020 there should be "testing of all going into care homes".

Government guidance later mandated tests only for those leaving hospital.

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said the messages had been "doctored".

"These stolen messages have been doctored to create a false story that Matt rejected clinical advice on care home testing. This is flat wrong," he said in a statement.

The BBC has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages nor the context in which they were sent.

The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 messages sent between Mr Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic.

The texts were passed to the newspaper by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who has been critical of lockdowns. Ms Oakeshott was given copies of the texts while helping Mr Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries.

What do the WhatsApp messages say?

In one message, dated 14 April, Mr Hancock reportedly told aides that Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medial officer for England, had conducted an "evidence review" and recommended "testing of all going into care homes, and segregation whilst awaiting result".

The message came a day before the publication of Covid-19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care, a government document setting out plans to keep the care system functioning during the pandemic.

Mr Hancock said the advice represented a "good positive step" and that "we must put into the doc", to which an aide responded that he had sent the request "to action".

But later the same day, Mr Hancock messaged again saying he would rather "leave out" a commitment to test everyone entering care homes from the community 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," he said.

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said this followed an operational meeting, where he was advised it was not possible to test everyone entering care homes.

When the care plan was published on 15 April, it said the government would "institute a policy of testing all residents prior to admission to care homes", but that that would "begin with all those being discharged from hospital".

It said only that it would "move to" a policy of testing everyone entering care homes from the community.

From March 2020 to January 2022, there were 43,256 deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in England, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Social Care Minister Helen Whately, who held the same role in 2020, said "the importance of testing was never in doubt" but "tough decisions" on prioritising the tests available had to be made.

Responding to an urgent question from Labour in the Commons, she said "selective snippets of WhatsApp conversations give a limited and at times misleading insight".

She pointed to an email at the time which said the government should "press ahead straight away" with hospitals testing patients being moved to care homes and that the government should "aspire to, as soon as capacity allows" for testing of everyone going into care homes.

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But Labour's shadow social care minister Liz Kendall questioned why care home residents were not prioritised and accused Mr Hancock of "attempting to rewrite history".

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said the then-health secretary "enthusiastically accepted" advice from the chief medical officer on 14 April that testing was needed for people going into care homes.

"Later that day he convened an operational meeting on delivering testing for care homes where he was advised it was not currently possible to test everyone entering care homes, which he also accepted," he 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."

Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent

There is always the temptation to see things as black or white when it comes to Covid. This story is a classic example of a seemingly simple claim that does not have a straightforward answer. As Prof Sir Chris Whitty made clear in his December report on the pandemic, the problem the UK faced was that there was not enough tests available.

By mid-April only around 20,000 tests a day were being done. It meant testing had to be strictly rationed - it was being used to test people with symptoms and only then if they were in vulnerable settings such as hospitals or care homes or they were key workers. A member of the public in the community who had symptoms could not access tests.

The decision to test care home residents whether they had symptoms or not (so including asymptomatic testing) was a break from that.

The judgement was taken that at first the asymptomatic testing would only be done for those admitted directly from hospital as those people were deemed at highest risk. Eventually people admitted to a care home from the community were tested as testing capacity expanded rapidly in May.

But for it to be done any earlier it would have, it seems, meant tests not being made available for another key group.

This does not mean there are no lessons to be learned or questions to answer on this issue.

But what it does show is that when it comes to Covid there are very few issues that are as simple as they seem.