Matt Hancock says he has not seen Dominic Cummings’ ‘performance’ in full

Prime minister’s former chief aide tells MPs health secretary should have been sacked

Matt Hancock said he had not seen Dominic Cummings' “performance” in full, after the prime minister's former aide told MPs he should have been sacked as health secretary.

Mr Cummings said Mr Hancock should have been fired over coronavirus failings and “criminal, disgraceful behaviour” on the coronavirus testing target.

Boris Johnson's ex-adviser also said Whitehall's top official recommended to the prime minister that Mr Hancock should be sacked.

Asked for his reaction to Mr Cummings’ allegations as he arrived at his north London home on Wednesday evening, Mr Hancock said: “I haven't seen this performance today in full, and instead I've been dealing with getting the vaccination rollout going, especially to over-30s, and saving lives.

“I'll be giving a statement to the House of Commons tomorrow and I'll have more to say then.”

Downing Street did not deny the prime minister considered sacking the health secretary in April last year but insisted Mr Johnson had confidence in him now, as Mr Hancock disputed the allegations.

Mr Cummings said there were about 20 reasons why Mr Hancock should have been thrown out of the cabinet – including, he claimed, lying both in meetings and publicly.

Mr Hancock used chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance as "shields" to blame for his failures, Mr Cummings claimed.

He said Mr Hancock performed "disastrously" below the standards expected and the cabinet secretary - the country's top civil servant - recommended the health secretary should be sacked.

Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former chief aide, gives evidence to MPs (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Cummings said that while former US President Donald Trump was ordering the CIA to "gazump" rival countries on orders for personal protective equipment (PPE), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was still trying to get orders from China by ship.

"I think the secretary of state for health should've been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the Cabinet room and publicly," Mr Cummings said.

"There's no doubt at all that many senior people performed far, far disastrously below the standards which the country has a right to expect. I think the secretary of state for health is certainly one of those people.

"I said repeatedly to the prime minister that he should be fired, so did the cabinet secretary, so did many other senior people."

Sir Mark Sedwill was the cabinet secretary until September 2020, a period which covered the first phase of the pandemic.

A spokesman for the health secretary, who is due to lead a coronavirus press conference from Downing Street on Thursday, said: “We absolutely reject Mr Cummings' claims about the health secretary.

"The health secretary will continue to work closely with the prime minister to deliver the vaccine rollout, tackle the risks posed by variants and support the NHS and social care sector to recover from this pandemic."

He insisted the health secretary had "worked incredibly hard in unprecedented circumstances to protect the NHS and save lives".

Mr Hancock will appear before the same committee where the series of hard-hitting allegations were levelled on 10 June.

Additional reporting by PA