The UK’s health secretary, whose reputation was attacked by Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser for the government’s poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic, has rejected the allegations.
“These allegations that were put yesterday…are serious allegations, and I welcome the opportunity to come to the House to put formally on the record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true,” Matt Hancock told the House of Commons.
“I’ve been straight with people in public and in private throughout.”
Hancock publicly defence of himself came the day after Dominic Cummings scathing attack at a seven-hour hearing on the government’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The former top aide, who was at the heart of the decisionmaking, testified there was chaos, incompetence and lies behind the doors of Number 10 that killed tens of thousands.
He claimed the health secretary lied about key aspects of the pandemic, including PPE supplies and the state of the crisis in care homes.
“Now all the government rhetoric of, ‘We put a shield around care homes,’ and blah, blah, was complete nonsense,” Cummings said.
“Quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with Covid back to the care homes.”
Hancock denied the claims, saying: “We’ve taken an approach of openness, transparency and explanation of both what we know and what we don’t know.
‘Now, sometimes what we’ve had to say hasn’t been easy. We’ve had to level with people when it’s been tough, when things have been going in the wrong direction and also we have learned throughout.
Dominic Cummings apologised for the government’s failings in its handling of Covid-19 and called Johnson “unfit for the job”. (Source: Other)
“We’ve applied that learning both to tackling this pandemic and making sure that we’re as well prepared in the future as possible.”
The chairman of the select committee reminded the House that Cummings’ testimony was allegations and he’s asked for evidence to back the claims.
During a visit to a hospital today, Prime Minister Johnson also denied the claim that thousands of people needlessly died because of his leadership.
“No, I don’t think so. But, of course, this has been an incredibly difficult series of discussions, none of which I’ve taken lightly.
“You’ve got to recognise, and I hope people do understand this, that when you go into a lockdown it’s a very, very painful, traumatic thing for people — for people’s mental health, for their lives, their livelihoods. And, of course, you’ve got to set that against the horrors of the pandemic and of Covid.”
The UK has recorded nearly 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe, and experienced one of the world’s deepest recessions last year after repeated lockdowns hobbled the economy.
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