Hancock says government had a ‘toxic culture’ at centre of it during Covid pandemic

Matt Hancock hit out at a “toxic culture” at the heart of the government during the pandemic as he defended his record as health secretary during the Covid inquiry on Thursday, 30 November.

Extracts from Sir Patrick Vallance’s diaries recorded that then-cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill said there was a “clear lack of grip in DHSC”.

In response, Mr Hancock said: “I think that the toxic culture that you’ve seen at the centre of government... was unhelpful in assuming that when anything was difficult or a challenge, therefore there was somehow fault and blame.”