Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was urged to speed up an official Covid-19 inquiry, after a leak of WhatsApp messages from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock prompted renewed questions about government policy at the height of the pandemic.
(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was urged to speed up an official Covid-19 inquiry, after a leak of WhatsApp messages from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock prompted renewed questions about government policy at the height of the pandemic.
Labour leader Keir Starmer called on Sunak to ensure the long-running Covid probe concludes at the end of 2023. The inquiry has already cost taxpayers £85 million without hearing from a government minister, Starmer said.
The Labour leader spoke out after the Daily Telegraph published extracts from a cache of messages from Hancock, focusing on how the then-health secretary acted on official advice on testing protocols around care homes.
A spokesperson for Hancock said: “These stolen messages have been doctored to create a false story that Matt rejected clinical advice on care home testing. This is flat wrong.”
In the House of Commons, Sunak declined to set a deadline on the inquiry, saying it was an independent process: “What we should do in this House is to let them get on and do their job,” the prime minister said.
Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, later told reporters that the government “won’t impose timelines.” The inquiry has started its preliminary hearings and is due to start public sessions later this year.
Care Home Dilemma
Elderly and infirm residents of care homes were at high risk of infection and severe illness in the early months of the pandemic, without the protections offered by vaccines from early 2021.
The Telegraph said it had obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic. Some of those it published related to discussions around testing policy for people entering care homes.
Bloomberg has not seen the WhatsApp messages or been able to verify them. Hancock’s spokesperson did not deny their authenticity, instead stressing they gave only a partial account of what took place. The leaks excluded a “key line,” resulting in a “distorted account of the pandemic,” the spokesperson said.
He said Hancock settled on a testing policy after an operational meeting “where he was advised it was not currently possible to test everyone entering care homes.”
“Matt concluded that the testing of people leaving hospital for care homes should be prioritised because of the higher risks of transmission,” the spokesperson said.
–With assistance from Ellen Milligan.
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