Coronavirus: Britain’s health minister defends handling of pandemic after Dominic Cummings’ attack

Matt Hancock said allegations from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ex-aide that he lied during his response to the health crisis were untrue

In testimony to lawmakers on Wednesday, Cummings said Johnson and Hancock’s ineptitude led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths

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British health minister Matt Hancock. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:15pm, 27 May 2021Updated: 3:42am, 28 May 2021

British health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday “unsubstantiated allegations” from the prime minister’s former chief aide that he had lied to colleagues and the public about the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic were untrue.

Dominic Cummings, who was Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s right-hand man until late last year, delivered a withering attack on his former boss and Hancock during seven hours of testimony before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, saying their ineptitude led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Johnson, Cummings said, was unfit for his role, while his greatest criticism was reserved for Hancock who he said had repeatedly lied to such an extent that the country’s top civil servant lost confidence in his honesty.

“These allegations that were put yesterday … are serious allegations and I welcome the opportunity … to put formally on the record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true, and that I’ve been straight with people in public and in private throughout,” Hancock told parliament.

A frame grab from video provided by the UK Parliament shows Dominic Cummings giving evidence to the committee in London on Wednesday. Photo: UK Parliamentary Recording Unit handout via EPA-EFE

With almost 128,000 deaths, the UK has the world’s fifth highest official Covid-19 toll, far higher than the government’s initial worst-case estimates of 20,000.

One of the most damning allegations from Cummings was that Hancock’s statement that the government had thrown a “protective ring around” care homes at the start of the pandemic was nonsense, and that instead people had been sent back from hospital who had contracted the coronavirus.