Matt Hancock disputes claims he rejected Covid testing advice for care homes

Former UK health secretary Matt Hancock has denied claims that he rejected advice to give Covid tests to all residents going into English care homes, after an investigation into a leaked trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages.

The MP said the “distorted account” has been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda”.

The Telegraph's investigation, based on messages it received from a journalist who worked on the health secretary's book about Covid, claims chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty told the health secretary in April 2020 that there should be testing for “all going into care homes”.

But the messages suggest Mr Hancock rejected the guidance, telling an aide the move just “muddies the waters”, and introduced mandatory testing for those coming from hospitals.

Mr Hancock expressed concern that expanding care home testing could “get in the way” of the target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests he was desperate to hit, the investigation said.

The messages, totalling 2.3 million words, were leaked by journalist Isabel Oakeshott after she worked on his memoir, Pandemic Diaries.

Ms Oakeshott, a critic of the stringent lockdowns imposed during the pandemic, defended leaking the messages, saying she had done it to avoid a “whitewash” of the crisis.

Rapid spread

Like many countries, the UK had little capacity to test for coronavirus when the pandemic began.

The virus spread rapidly through nursing homes in the initial months of the country’s first outbreak in 2020, leading to around 20,000 deaths.

Britain is due to hold a public inquiry into authorities’ handling of the pandemic, but the hearings have yet to begin.

“The right place for this analysis of what happened in the pandemic is in the inquiry,” a spokesman for Mr Hancock said.

The spokesman said the former health secretary is “considering all options” in response to the leak, with a source close to him telling the PA news agency: “She's broken a legal NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Her behaviour is outrageous.”

The spokesman said: “Having not been approached in advance by The Telegraph, we have reviewed the messages overnight.

“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 have been informed that their headline is wrong, and Matt is considering all options available to him.

“This major error by Isabel Oakeshott and The Telegraph shows why the proper place for analysis like this is the inquiry, not a partial, agenda-driven leak of confidential documents.”

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.
• Mr Hancock telling former chancellor George Osborne, then editor of the Evening Standard, “I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET!” as he pushed for favourable front-page coverage.

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, which she claimed could be a “colossal whitewash”.

“That's why I've decided to release this sensational cache of private communications ― because we absolutely cannot wait any longer for answers,” she said.

In one message, Mr Hancock said Prof Whitty 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 told an aide: “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.”

“The Telegraph story is wrong,” Mr Hancock's spokesman said. “Instead of spinning and leaks we need the full, comprehensive inquiry.”

“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.

“Those who argue there shouldn't have been a lockdown ignore the fact that half a million people would have died had we not locked down."

'We've got a courier'

In September 2020, during a severe backlog in testing, messages suggest an adviser to Mr Hancock helped get a test sent to senior Conservative Mr Rees-Mogg's home.

The aide messaged Mr Hancock to say the lab had “lost” the original test for one of the Mr Rees-Mogg's children, “so we've got a courier going to their family home tonight”.

He added: “Jacob's spad [special adviser] is aware and has helped line it all up, but you might want to text Jacob.”

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.”

Mr Hancock later added: “I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET!”

The Covid inquiry

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister's Questions to ensure the Covid-19 inquiry could report by the end of 2023.

Responding to the Telegraph newspaper's Lockdown Files during Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir told the Commons: "We don't know the truth of what happened yet.

"There are too many messages and too many unknowns, however families across the country will look at this and the sight of politicians writing books portraying themselves as heroes or selectively leaking messages, (it) will be an insulting and ghoulish spectacle for them."

He asked: "The Covid inquiry has already cost the taxpayer £85 million and hasn't heard from a single Government minister yet. So can the Prime Minister assure the House no more delays, that the inquiry will have whatever support it needs to report by the end of this year?"

Rishi Sunak stressed there was a legal process to follow, that the inquiry was independent, and it was important to "let them get on and do their job".

He added: "Rather than comment on piecemeal bits of information, I am sure he will agree with me the right way for these things to be looked at is the Covid inquiry."