Covid inquiry live: Hancock ‘wanted to decide who should live or die if NHS became overwhelmed’
Lord Simon Stevens says Cabinet ministers ‘avoided’ Cobra meetings chaired by then-health secretary
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Your support makes all the difference.Ex-health secretary Matt Hancock believed that he – rather than doctors or the public – should decide “who should live and who should die” if hospitals became overwhelmed with Covid patients, the former NHS chief executive has said.
Lord Simon Stevens said that “fortunately this horrible dilemma never crystallised”, as he told the Covid inquiry on Thursday that it would have to look “very carefully” at the issue of asymptomatic Covid patients being discharged from hospitals into care homes.
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock, who was health secretary at the start of the Covid outbreak, told Public Health England’s then medical director Yvonne Doyle “not to patronise him” when she warned that the virus could be in the UK, she told the inquiry.
She said she was barred from doing media interviews for a time after that, and apologised to him, even though she had been telling the truth.
It comes a day after former top civil servant and ethics chief Helen MacNamara said the “female perspective” was missed during the pandemic as she condemned a “toxic” and “macho” culture at the highest levels of Mr Johnson’s government.
Matt Hancock wanted to decide who should live and who should die during Covid – former NHS boss
An unhappy struggle between panto and principle: the Covid inquiry’s winners and losers so far
Matt Hancock told Public Health England director ‘not to patronise him’
Boris Johnson’s No 10 was toxic, sexist and devoid of humanity, says former top civil servant
Chris Whitty attacked Sunak scheme as ‘Eat out to help out the virus’
Former private secretary to Boris Johnson Imran Shafi also said Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, had criticised Rishi Sunak’s “Eat out to help out” scheme in August 2020 – calling it “Eat out to help out the virus”.
Rishi Sunak sacks senior Tory aide for calling for Gaza ceasefire
Rishi Sunak has sacked a senior Tory from his government job as a ministerial aide for calling breaking ranks and calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hama conflict.
Paul Bristow, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) at the science department, called for a “permanent” ceasefire in Gaza in a letter to Mr Sunak.
The MP for Peterborough said it “would save lives and allow for a continued column of humanitarian aid [to] reach the people who need it the most”.
Adam Forrest, Political Correspondent reports:
Rishi Sunak sacks senior Tory aide for calling for Gaza ceasefire
Paul Bristow had called for ‘permanent’ ceasefire in Gaza in letter to PM
Extraordinary WhatsApp messages revealing ‘chaos’ of Boris’ government
A series of scathing WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson’s top team have accused the former prime minister of making it “impossible” to tackle Covid, as he created chaos and changed direction “every day”.
The extraordinary messages sent between the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case reveal the strong disquiet among Mr Johnson’s advisers, with Mr Case, the cabinet secretary and top civil servant, at one point declaring: “I am at the end of my tether.”
The ex-PM’s top officials also branded him “weak and indecisive” and referred to him as a “trolley”. Chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance, meanwhile, said Mr Johnson was “all over the place” and “so completely inconsistent”.
Archie Mitchell reports:
The extraordinary WhatsApps that reveal the ‘chaos’ of Boris Johnson’s government
Messages sent between Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case laid bare the chaos behind Downing Street’s response to Covid
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