Matt Hancock

In another exchange, the Head of the Civil Service, Simon Case, suggested the "fear/guilt factor" was vital to the government's messaging. The BBC has not ...

"And we may need to tighten the rules. Here are some of our stories on the leaks: In a statement responding to the leaks, Matt Hancock said: "There is absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. Mr Case warns against making small changes to the rules as looking "ridiculous". Do people really understand that and are they observing it?" In an exchange between Mr Hancock and an aide from 13th December 2020, the former health secretary discusses when to "deploy" the announcement of the new variant.

Rishi Sunak faces calls for inquiry into whether medical evidence was ignored before the launch of his £849m initiative.

The concern in government that the scheme was spreading the pandemic is revealed in Hancock’s WhatsApp messages. Fetzer said on Saturday he had made a submission to the Covid-19 public inquiry and he considered the scheme should now be examined as part of the hearings. In January 2021, the Treasury said its own analysis had shown that areas with a high take-up of the scheme had low subsequent Covid-19 cases. The paper found the virus spread more rapidly in areas with lots of participating restaurants and said the scheme might have “public health costs that vastly outstrip its short-term economic benefits”. He said his department had informed the Treasury and was “protecting” officials. He said the evidence to date suggested there may have been a “cover-up” and the Treasury needed to publish all the relevant documents.

Latest messages show ex-health secretary was worried Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme was contributing to the spread of Covid.

In a statement this week, Mr Hancock said that all the materials for his book have been made available to the official Covid-19 inquiry. He said: “We have had lots of feedback that [Eat Out to Help Out] is causing problems… Messages from 10 January show Mr Hancock and the cabinet secretary discussing ways to ensure compliance. Especially as I guess it will be full with a couple of days (based on current data).” On 14 December Mr Hancock announced that a new variant had been identified in the UK. I suspect London Nightingale coming into use will feel like a big public moment.

Matt Hancock said he wanted to “frighten the pants off everyone” to ensure compliance with Covid-19 restrictions, according to leaked WhatsApp messages.

“I don’t think he will be found to have misled Parliament. I’m absolutely convinced Boris did not knowingly mislead Parliament.” Matt Hancock said he wanted to “frighten the pants off everyone” to ensure compliance with Covid-19 restrictions, according to leaked WhatsApp messages published by the Telegraph.

Exchanges revealed that ministers wanted to remove Sir Jeremy Farrar from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) group after he was critical ...

I think you got to put it in the time context as well as everything else, which is why it’s important to wait for the inquiry.” “There is absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. Sir Jeremy was also critical of Mr Hancock in his book Spike: The Virus vs. He said: “The government’s strategy was to try and protect the British public as best it possibly could, to try and protect the British economy as best it possibly could, which is why you saw Chris Whitty out on press conferences and doing other things.” I have seen no data that shows any currently available rapid test would be useful or informative. “They should not be believed.

Former health secretary conspired with Dominic Cummings to remove Simon Stevens in early 2020.

[Health](https://www.theguardian.com/society/health) and Social Care: “We have to do something about Farrar. Hancock branded Farrar as “worse than useless” and “a complete loudmouth” after a series of disagreements over government Covid policy. [tweeted](https://twitter.com/JeremyFarrar/status/1295977120083189760) in August 2020 that axing PHE involved “arbitrary sackings. In a message to a WhatsApp group that included Hancock and senior officials, Stevens said: “There is no version of reality whereby ‘several million people will receive the vaccine before Christmas’ so whoever briefed that might want to urgently undertake some course correction before that inevitably becomes clear.” Preempting inevitable public enquiry.” That prompted Hancock and Lord Bethell, a health minister, to see if the scientist could be removed from Sage. He also lauded Stevens’s “formidable contribution” to the running of the NHS. Stevens also incurred Hancock’s ire in May 2020 by not warning him of plans to announce that dental surgeries would be able to reopen to patients the month after. Stevens became a life peer in summer 2021 and sits as a crossbencher. Stevens was angered by media reports that “millions” of people would receive a Covid jab before Christmas. The messages do not reveal why the minister and No 10 adviser wanted Stevens out. The scientist had criticised the government’s handling of Covid. I am first getting [NHS England board member and ex-Labour health minister] Ara Darzi to persuade him it’s in his best interests to go now.

Boris Johnson was a “nationally distrusted figure” as prime minister, the country's top civil servant said, according to the latest leaks of Matt Hancock's ...

In a statement this week, Hancock said all the material for his book have been made available to the official Covid inquiry. But the messages not only show what Hancock had said, but what government colleagues said to him in reply, as in this case. Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, made the remark to Hancock as the pair discussed Covid testing capability.

Leak has provided unique insight into how UK government operated at height of the Covid pandemic.

The messages also show the reaction of Hancock and Coladangelo to the video leaked to the sun. He needs to be either inside the tent and onside, or outside and commentating. The messages also show Hancock’s private concerns the scheme was spreading the virus. Sunak’s scheme to support restaurants that were forced to close during the pandemic The messages reveal Hancock and his advisers talking among themselves and liaising with No 10 about how to respond to the story. Hancock also said yes, adding: “It wasn’t exactly a one off.”

Dr Clive Dix, the former chairman of the Vaccines Taskforce, used an article in the Telegraph to call Mr Hancock the “the most difficult of all the ministers ...

“But we couldn’t change the nature of the process and he didn’t get that. Hancock wanted to get involved and because he was secretary of state, Alok stepped aside. We had no ego, we were only doing this because the country needed vaccines. “He was all over the place, a bit like a headless chicken. I don’t think he understood the process. “He didn’t believe us.

The former boss of the COVID vaccines taskforce Dr Clive Dix is the latest to take a swipe at the former health secretary, as leaked WhatsApp messages Mr ...

The former Conservative MP, who crops up in the leaked messages offering advice and support to Mr Hancock amid the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, told Channel 4's The Andrew Neil Show, the ex-health secretary was a "rational" voice in government. A spokesman for Dame Kate told the Telegraph that the messages suggested Mr Hancock "was not aware of the published and agreed government vaccine procurement policy". "He didn't take time to understand anything," he said of Mr Hancock, in an article for The Daily Telegraph. [the outgoing Tory MP](https://news.sky.com/story/former-health-secretary-matt-hancock-will-not-stand-at-next-election-12763450), who [resigned as health secretary](https://news.sky.com/story/matt-hancock-resigns-as-health-secretary-12342613) after being caught breaking social distancing rules to pursue an affair with an aide, was "the most difficult of all the ministers". Matt Hancock has been branded "two-faced" and compared to a "headless chicken" by the former boss of the COVID vaccines taskforce. The former boss of the COVID vaccines taskforce Dr Clive Dix is the latest to take a swipe at the former health secretary, as leaked WhatsApp messages Mr Hancock sent at the height of the pandemic continue to be published by The Daily Telegraph.

The then Health Secretary referred to unfounded claims that Gates had developed Covid-19 in a lab and used the vaccine to implant microchip tracking devices ...

Other messages have revealed that Hancock was given advice from England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty to test all residents going into care homes for Covid. [H](/news/article-11823273/Matt-Hancock-took-lover-Gina-Coladangelo-dinners-G7-summit-removing-invited-her.html) [ancock took his lover Gina Coladangelo to private dinners with the US Secretary of State ](/news/article-11823273/Matt-Hancock-took-lover-Gina-Coladangelo-dinners-G7-summit-removing-invited-her.html)at a [G7](/news/g7/index.html) summit before later removing the suggestion he invited her. Conspiracy theorists claimed that Bill Gates (pictured) had developed Covid-19 in a lab and used the vaccine to implant microchip tracking devices into people [unfounded claims that Gates had developed Covid-19 in a lab](/news/article-9192815/Bill-Gates-says-hes-shocked-crazy-evil-conspiracy-theories-linking-COVID-19.html) and used the vaccine to implant microchip tracking devices into billions of people. [Microsoft](/sciencetech/microsoft/index.html) billionaire to help in promoting the country's expertise in identifying [coronavirus](/news/coronavirus/index.html) variants around the world. [Matt Hancock](/news/matt-hancock/index.html) joked that [Bill Gates](/news/bill-gates/index.html) 'owes me one' because of 'how many people I'm getting his chips injected into' during the pandemic, leaked WhatsApp messages have revealed.

Mr Hancock was told by advisors that the public would 'forgive' him for being supportive of lockdowns if he could claim vaccines as his success.

And if it IS true we neeed [sic] to accelerate massively.' The Health Secretary raged: 'I CALLED FOR THIS TWO MONTHS AGO. Matt set all this out in his book.' The messages show him communicating with his media advisor Damon Poole, who tells him of the upcoming announcement. People see it as the way out. They mind if it doesn't look like we are trying.' By December 2020 Mr Hancock was criticising media coverage that failed to give him credit for the vaccine rollout, telling his media advisor Mr Poole 'we need to be on the front foot from tomorrow'. He suggested speaking directly with pharmaceutical companies to try and help, before Mr Hancock could swoop in on the success. Mr Hancock then asked if No.10 knew about the announcement, adding he should speak to the media in the morning: 'I should DEFINITELY do the round tmrw.' Mr Hancock was told by advisors that the public would 'forgive' him for being supportive of lockdowns if he could claim vaccines as his success, leading the MP to try to be the face of the campaign. [Matt Hancock](/news/matt-hancock/index.html) was determined to spin the rollout of the [coronavirus](/news/coronavirus/index.html) vaccine as a 'Hancock triumph' and become 'Mr vaccine' in the media as he worried about other politicians overshadowing him, leaked messages show. Mr Hancock was determined to be seen as 'Mr vaccine' and placed himself at the forefront of media coverage, even appearing to break down on Good Morning Britain

Former health secretary made fun of crackpot theory when discussing getting Microsoft billionaire's support.

[The then health secretary](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/04/project-fear-covid-lockdown-files-matt-hancock-whatsapp/) was hoping to get Microsoft billionaire Mr Gates’s help in promoting an offer of UK expertise in identifying coronavirus variants when he made the quip in January 2021. Another popular conspiracy theory said to have been spread by Russia was that the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab was a “monkey vaccine” that not only contravened animal rights but would also turn people into monkeys. [Mr Hancock’s media adviser](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/05/matt-hancock-gina-coladangelo-g7-dinner-cover-up-whatsapp/), sent him a WhatsApp message asking him if he had spoken to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, about the New Variant Assessment Platform (NVAP), which offered other countries UK expertise to detect and assess new variants around the world.