Hancock discussed blocking disability hub if MP opposed lockdown, messages reveal

Ex-health secretary branded ‘absolute disgrace’ as latest leak suggests he backed putting pressure on Bury North MP

Matt Hancock discussed withholding funding for a learning disability centre to pressure a Tory MP not to rebel against Covid restrictions, leaked messages suggest.

The then-health secretary and an aide spoke about warning James Daly that a new centre would be “off the table” if he voted against the government, according to the latest leak.

Senior Tory Sir Jake Berry described the disclosure as an “absolute disgrace”, suggested Mr Hancock had been “drunk on power” and called for him to be hauled into the Commons for questioning.

But Mr Hancock’s team said “what’s being accused here never happened” as they disputed the “entirely partial account” based on a trove of leaked WhatsApp messages.

The Telegraph said the discussion between Mr Hancock and political aide Allan Nixon came ahead of a vote on 1 December 2020 on the introduction of new Covid restrictions in England.

Mr Nixon said they need to “dangle our top asks” over some of the newest MPs who entered Parliament in 2019 through Boris Johnson’s general election victory.

Mr Nixon suggested, for example, “James wants his Learning Disability Hub in Bury – whips call him up and say Health team want to work with him to deliver this but that’ll be off the table if he rebels”.

“These guys’ re-election hinges on us in a lot of instances, and we know what they want. We should seriously consider using it IMO,” he wrote.

Mr Hancock’s response was “yes 100%”.

Mr Daly, the Conservative MP for Bury North, said he was “appalled” and “disgusted” that a disability hub was discussed as a way to coerce him into voting with ministers.

But he said the threat was never made to him, and said he was unaware that the Department for Health and Social Care had plans to for a disability hub in the constituency.

Mr Hancock’s spokesman said: “As we’ve repeatedly seen this last week, it is completely wrong to take this entirely partial account and write it up as fact.

“What’s being accused here never happened, demonstrating the story is wrong, and showing why such a biased, partial approach to the evidence is a bad mistake, driven by those with a vested interest and an axe to grind.

He added: “The right place to consider everything about the pandemic objectively is in the public inquiry.”

But Mr Berry, the former Tory party chairman, tweeted: “This is an absolute disgrace. Hancock should be dragged to the bar of the House of Commons first thing tomorrow morning to be questioned on this.”

Sir Jake, who has a son with additional needs, told Times Radio that “once you get to the point that you are weaponising the provision of care to disabled children, I think you have crossed the line”.

The senior Tory said: “I just think it’s an absolutely despicable and appalling way for Matt Hancock and his advisors to have behaved.”

He added: “I think this clearly shows either someone who was prepared to do anything to get their own way, or someone kind of drunk on the power of ordering people around and telling people what to do.”

Journalist Isabel Oakeshott has said she makes “no apology whatsoever for acting in the national interest” by leaked Mr Hancock’s WhatsApp messages to The Telegraph after working with him on a book.

Mr Hancock said in a statement that he was the victim of a “massive betrayal and breach of trust” and insisted: “There is absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach.”