Inside Politics: Hancock to come out fighting after Cummings’ claims

The health secretary gets to put his side of the story across after the PM’s former adviser accused him of ‘criminal, disgraceful behaviour’, writes Adam Forrest

Matt Hancock outside his home on 27 May (PA)

Ready for yet more “truth bombs”? Harry and Oprah will reunite for an Apple TV+ programme this Friday – with the prince vowing to “go deeper” into his own story. The barrage of truth bombs lobbed by Dominic Cummings during his epic, seven-hour session slagging off the government has left everyone at Westminster exhausted. By as we all dust ourselves off from his incendiary accusations – calling Boris Johnson “unfit” and claiming “tens of thousands” died needlessly – Matt Hancock emerges from the rubble with the most serious questions to answer.

Inside the bubble

Policy correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

Matt Hancock is the man in the spotlight. The health secretary is due to appear in the Commons at 10.30am to answer an urgent question tabled by Labour on Dominic Cummings’ claims. Boris Johnson will respond too. The PM is visiting a hospital today and is expected to do a short interview for broadcasters.

Daily briefing

ON THAT DOMSHELL: Boris Johnson’s allies claim Dominic Cummings revealed himself to be a “vengeful” and “bitter” man. But in truth the ex-adviser gave a mesmerising performance, packed full of serious claims – including an utterly devastating account of the PM’s character and competence. Cummings said he believed Johnson was “unfit” to be PM by October last year when he refused to bring in a second lockdown. He said it was “crackers” that Johnson ever became PM – accusing him of enjoying “chaos” and making “extremely stupid decisions”. Cummings painted a picture of utter bedlam in early March, as officials made a slow, painful and protracted shift away from herd immunity to the need for lockdown. He compared it to “out of control” movie alien disaster movie Independence Day. Johnson will face questions about why he denied – in parliament – ever saying “let the bodies pile high” (Cummings claimed he “heard that in the PM’s study”). But it’s the damning portrayal of a PM “out of his depth” which could cause lasting damage.

HANCOCK’S HALF COWER: It was Matt Hancock who was singled out for heaviest bombardment from the “Dom bombs”. Cummings accused Hancock of “criminal, disgraceful behaviour” by interfering with the test and trace system. He said the health secretary should have been fired for “at least 15 to 20 things” – including “repeated lying” about PPE, care homes and herd immunity. Hancock will come of hiding this morning and answer questions in the Commons – though he claims not to have watched Cummings’ performance “in full”. His Labour shadow Jonathan Ashworth said Cummings’ allegations appeared to be “well-founded”. Johnson was said to be furious to find that untested patients had been sent back into care homes – despite Hancock’s alleged promises to the contrary. Cummings said the PM was only persuaded to keep Hancock in his role “because he’s the person you fire when the inquiry comes along”. Jeremy Hunt, chair of the health select committee, told Cummings these were “very serious allegations” and urged him to provide evidence before Hancock is grilled by the joint committee in a fortnight.

SPIDEY SENSE: There were plenty of odd Cummings’ moments – references to King Lear, Spider-Man and Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day – to keep the Twitterati amused. Cummings revealed his secret fascistic fantasies by saying he would have preferred one, all-powerful, Lear-like figure in charge during the crisis – “a kind of dictator”. Trying to explain the chaos in government, he said: “It was like that Spider-Man meme with both Spider-Man’s pointing at each other … all the different Spider-Man’s are pointing back at each other saying, ‘It’s your responsibility’.” What about Barnard Castle? Cummings stood by his eyesight test story, but admitted that he did not “tell the full story” about his lockdown trip to Durham – saying security threats against his family were the reason he moved them out of London. We also got more of his disdain for Carrie Symonds, as he described her going “completely crackers” over a story about her dog. Piers Morgan responded to it all by apologising for the way he held the government to account. He said it was now obvious he “should have gone much, much harder”.

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM: Believe it or not, some other stuff happened while Cummings had us all under his spell. The transport secretary revealed that islands such as the Canary Islands and Majorca could soon be moved to the green list of holiday destinations. It may happen from 7 June, said Grant Shapps. The minister said travel wouldn’t open back up fully until other countries catch up with our vaccine roll-out. “Part of this is having the patience to let this come through the system.” France still spies the UK suspiciously, however. It has introduced new mandatory quarantine restrictions on British travellers because of the rapid spread of the Indian variant. It comes as a top scientist said it could still be another “two to three weeks” before it’s clear whether the end of lockdown can go ahead on 21 June. Prof Neil Ferguson said we still don’t know just how quickly the Indian variant is going to rise. “We were expecting cases to rise as we relaxed restrictions, but if they rise too quickly that’s a problem."

TOTAL RECALL: The government is expected to set out plans today to close the loophole which prevents constituents of disgraced Tory MP Rob Roberts – found to have made “unwanted sexual advances” towards his employee – from forcing a by-election. He is currently set to escape a recall petition because the six-week suspension was recommended by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) rather than a Commons committee. Jacob Rees-Mogg has invited the “relevant bodies” to consider whether the laws need to be changed, and transport secretary Grant Shapps said he felt “this loophole does need to be closed”. But it remains unclear how soon the government will try to change the rules. Asked about the matter at PMQs, Boris Johnson said the Tories own punishment – withdrawing the whip from Roberts – was “condign” (appropriate). Labour frontbencher Jess Phillips urged Roberts not to hide behind process and procedure. “I think Rob Roberts should, without question, if he had even a single bone of decency in his body, resign his position.”

PRO-INDY PACT? Nicola Sturgeon is in talks with the Scottish Greens over a formal agreement which could see a pact forged between the pro-independence parties in the Scottish parliament. The deal could see Green MSPs becoming ministers, in what the Sturgeon described as a “potentially ground-breaking” move. Opposition parties accused Sturgeon of “regurgitating” her party’s top priority of independence, as she laid out her government’s agenda on Wednesday. “It took just 15 seconds for Nicola Sturgeon to talk up the prospect of another referendum,” said Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross. “It sets up the same old us-versus-them choice, the same bitterness, the same division.” Meanwhile, Labour is unhappy about the highly divisive figure that Boris Johnson is preparing to welcome on Friday. Hungary’s far-right leader Victor Orban will visit No 10 tomorrow. Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy urged Johnson to press Orban on human rights and take “a robust stance towards the Lukashenko regime in Belarus”.

On the record

“Senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me fell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this.”

Dominic Cummings admits he was part of the problem.

From the Twitterati

“Today on Normal Island we have a senior government advisor attempting to describe the Spiderman meme to an inquiry into 130,000 deaths.”

James Felton raises an eyebrow at Cummings’ use of Spiderman analogies...

“At last! We are finally getting to Spiderman’s role in this shambles! He has got away unscrutinised to far too long.”

...and FT’s Robert Shrimsely thinks it’s high time the superhero was questioned.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: Cummings had his chance in government – it could hardly have gone worse

Vince Cable, The Independent: What’s really motivating the push for a trade deal with Australia?

Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian: The Cummings circus is an indictment of the entire governing class

Isabel Hardman, The Spectator: Matt Hancock may well get his revenge

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