Covid-19 in the United Kingdom: the ex-minister of Health would have ignored the advice of specialists

Former British Minister of Health Matt Hancock, here during an update on the Covid-19 pandemic, May 27, 2021 in London.

© Matt Dunham/AP

Text by: Emeline Vin Follow

3 mins

Among Western European countries, the United Kingdom has been the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 3,000 deaths per million inhabitants.

As Boris Johnson's Conservative government at the time is under investigation, having come under heavy criticism over its handling of this crisis, the Daily Telegraph tabloid

reveals

messages from the former health minister proving he had ignored expert advice.

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From our correspondent in London,

The

Daily Telegraph

accuses

then health minister Matt Hancock

of ignoring the chief medical officer's advice.

One of the main British daily and tabloids was able to

consult 100,000

WhatsApp messages from Matt Hancock

, exchanged at the time with his collaborators, other members of the government and his advisers. 

We learn that Matt Hancock was

slow to have everyone arriving in a retirement home tested

.

The recommendation had been published on April 14, 2020 and the minister initially seems to support it.

We are then at the very beginning of the Covid-19 crisis and knowledge of transmission is limited.

But the next day, he announces that only people arriving from hospitals will be tested: general screening, according to him, “ 

would blur the signal

 ”.

At the time, Matt Hancock was promising to achieve 100,000 tests per month for the general British public and he then seemed to fear that expanding testing in care homes would prevent him from achieving his goal.

These messages also highlight his apparent indifference to restrictions on visits to retirement homes, despite the very strong opposition of one of his secretaries of state.

A total of

46,000

nursing home residents have died of Covid-19 in the UK

.

A broken confidentiality agreement in the name of " 

the public interest

 "

While the practices of the British press, especially the tabloids, are sometimes criticized, Matt Hancock himself passed on these messages to a journalist from the

Daily Telegraph

.

The story does not end there, however.

Known for her anti-containment positions, journalist Isabelle Oakeshott had worked with the former minister on the writing of his memoirs,

Diaries of a Pandemic

.

She had then signed a confidentiality agreement… which she decided to break in the name of “ 

the public interest

 ”, by publishing “ 

the Lockdown Files

 ”.

To read: 

United Kingdom: faced with the public hospital crisis, the authorities call for caution

Methods obviously criticized by Matt Hancock, still an MP today.

His spokespersons indicate that he did not have the opportunity to defend himself, having been warned “ 

late in the evening

 ” of the day before publication.

According to him, Isabelle Oakshott would not have mentioned everything that happened on the periphery of WhatsApp messages: for example, the multiple meetings.

Matt Hancock would have learned there in particular that universal screening in retirement homes was not feasible.

A very slow investigation into the government response to Covid-19

Even though Boris Johnson is no longer Prime Minister, the Conservative Party is still in power.

In this context, an independent investigation

examines the government's response to the pandemic

, an investigation has already fallen far behind: the most pessimistic expect it to last 10 years.

The committee has already refused to take into account several axes, for example racial inequalities, while the virus has been even more deadly for ethnic minorities.

This investigation has become a sea snake whose conclusions some fear will come so late that the main targets will no longer be in office, and too late to draw useful conclusions.

It is also because of this slowness that Isabelle Oakeshott wanted to publish the messages.

To read: 

United Kingdom: faced with the public hospital crisis, the authorities call for caution

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  • United Kingdom

  • Boris Johnson

  • Coronavirus

  • Confinement

  • Health and medicine