Covid UK news live: Matt Hancock denies lying to Boris Johnson

Health secretary Matt Hancock has rejected Dominic Cummings’ claim that he lied to Boris Johnson over testing for people going into care homes in the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, telling MPs that clinical advice at the time was that this was the wrong thing to do, writes Andrew Woodcock.

Mr Hancock was confronted with a series of bombshell allegations from the prime minister’s former top adviser as he gave evidence to two Commons committees, who last month heard Cummings say that the health secretary should have been sacked “15 to 20 times” for his failings over Covid-19.

Matt Hancock is given the space to say his piece.

Asked if he’d like to respond to Dominic Cummings’ accusations, Mr Hancock says: “It’s telling that no evidence has been provided yet.”

He adds: “Throughout this, I have got out of bed every morning with the view and the attitude that my job is to do everything I could to protect lives and to get this country out of the pandemic.

“I’ve approached that with a mission-driven determination to make it happen. I’ve tried to do that with an approach of honesty, integrity, and, critically, answering questions both in public and in private to the best of my ability.

“Sometimes you have to say you don’t known, because we’re operating in a world where there’s huge judgements being made with very imperfect information.

“From the approach I’ve taken not least in public and to parliament and select committees like this one, and in private to the prime minister and everybody else, has been to be direct sometimes, yes, and I can be quite forceful when I’m trying to get something through if it needs to happen.

“But that’s what you have to do, and crucially you have to bring the team with you.”

Is there a hidden steely core to Matt Hancock under the politician-management-speak, which we’re just seeing a glimpse of now?

The health secretary is asked why he and Mr Cummings did not get on.

“I have no idea,” he says.

Did Mr Hancock know Mr Cummings wanted him sacked?

“Yes, because he briefed the newspapers,” the health secretary says, adding that he had Boris Johnson’s “wholesome support throughout”.

“The government has operated better over the last six months” since Mr Cummings’ departure, Mr Hancock says.

Mr Hancock is asked whether, in March 2020, he told Boris Johnson that people in hospital would be tested before they went back into care homes.

This was a key part of Dominic Cummings’ evidence to the committee previously.

Mr Hancock says: “We set out a policy that people would be tested when tests were available, and then I set about building the testing capacity to be able to deliver on that.

“The clinical advice set out three different reasons why we took the approach that we did.

“On care home policy throughout we followed the clinical advice.

“The challenge was not just that we didn’t have the testing capacity, but also that the clinical advice was that a test on somebody who didn’t have any symptoms could easily return a false negative, and therefore give false assurance that that person didn’t have the disease.

“At the same time the clinicians were worried because it took four days to turn a test around, that if you leave somebody in hospital in those four days they might catch Covid, and therefore go back to a care home with a negative test result – but having caught it.

“So, the advice was the most important thing was infection prevention control in care homes, and, the evidence has shown that the strongest route of the virus into care homes is unfortunately community transmission, and so it was staff testing that was the most important thing for keeping people safe.”

He adds: “The relationship between the secretary of state and the prime minister is often that I make commitments to do things and I get on and do them, and then they’re delivered.”

I think that counts as a long-winded dodge.

“No, that is not a fair recollection of the situation.”

Mr Hancock adds: “There were huge challenges.”

Getting hold of PPE was very difficult, he says. “You’ll remember at the time there was huge global demands for PPE.

“We had to remove a piece of bureaucracy that was in the way that put a limit on the price that could be paid.

“That did require the Treasury to make that change and the chancellor was incredibly helpful.”

Mr Hancock claims there was not a “national shortage” of PPE in the early stages of the pandemic.

Mr Hancock is asked, did you say anything to the PM you knew not to be true? “No,” he answers.

He is also asked whether he said everyone who needed treatment got the treatment they required, after being told by experts that not everyone got that treatment.

Mr Hancock says: “I did absolutely say, both in private and in public, that everybody got the Covid treatment that they needed. And I’m very proud of the fact that with the NHS, we delivered on that during the pandemic.

“There was no point at which I was advised … that people were not getting the treatment they needed.”

Matt Hancock is giving evidence in progress.

There will be four themes explored. The initial response, lockdown measures and Test and Trace, vaccine development, and decisions taken in autumn and winter of 2020-21.

MPs have noted that Dominic Cummings has failed to supply written evidence to back up his claims made last time, and to explain why.

That evidence would have informed questions to be asked today.

Boris Johnson is determined to lift the 30-person limit on weddings on 21 June, even if other lockdown restrictions remain in place, according to reports.

While the prime minister may decide to keep social distancing precautions remain in place, unlimited guest lists are set to be permitted, although wedding guests will still be required to wear masks when not eating and drinking, according to The Times.

Ursula von der Leyen has said investigators trying to discover the origin of Covid-19 need to have full access to sites which could shed lights on the matter.

“It is of utmost importance that we learn about the origins of the coronavirus,” the EU Commission president told a news conference ahead of a G7 summit in Britain.

“Investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic,” she added.

Airlines have given a lukewarm welcome to the government’s announcement of another travel taskforce – this time aimed at restarting transatlantic travel, writes Simon Calder.

After President Biden arrived in the UK, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, tweeted: “We’re pleased to announce a joint UK/US Taskforce to help facilitate the reopening of transatlantic travel.”

The group will explore options for resuming flights at scale on what was once the busiest and most lucrative intercontinental route network in the world.

NHS hospitals have been urged to protect frontline staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) amid a warning about the risks of heat stress as the UK basks in a period of prolonged warm weather, writes Tom Batchelor.

A letter from Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive to hospital trusts, GPs and pharmacies said doctors and nurses should be given regular breaks and recommended that a buddy system be established with people urged to watch for the signs of heat stress, which can lead to more serious heat stroke.