- Sputnik International, 1920
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

BoJo Reportedly Ranted at Matt Hancock 'What a F****** Mess' For Care Home COVID Testing 'Failure'

© AP Photo / Jonathan BuckmasterBritain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, chairs a socially distanced government Cabinet meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, Tuesday Sept. 15, 2020.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, chairs a socially distanced government Cabinet meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, Tuesday Sept. 15, 2020. - Sputnik International, 1920, 30.05.2021
Subscribe
Earlier, the UK Prime Minister was alleged to have deliberately cut Health Secretary Matt Hancock out of Downing Street meetings in 2020 over the situation when hospital patients were being sent to care homes without first being tested for COVID-19 in the early weeks of the pandemic last year.

Boris Johnson is reported to have aimed an expletive-laden tirade at UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock over COVID-19 testing failures in care homes after recovering from contracting the virus himself in March last year, according to The Sun.

A lack of COVID screening for people being discharged from hospitals into care homes reportedly  prompted the PM to shout “What a f****** mess!” at Hancock.

Nevertheless, Johnson resisted demands from other ministers to sack the health secretary, who argued it would be “intolerable” in the midst of a pandemic.

Earlier, reports claim that BoJo deliberately cut Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock from Downing Street meetings in 2020 over the situation with the country's care homes.

According to the Daily Mail, citing an unnamed source, Johnson was concerned to discover that hospital patients had been sent to care homes without first being tested for COVID-19 in the early weeks of the pandemic.

Insiders were cited as describing the relationship between Johnson and Hancock as "really bad" as the COVID death toll soared, with Hancock excluded from some meetings with government advisers, including National Health Service (NHS) Chief Sir Simon Stevens and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty.

The latest report feeds a string of accusations by ex-adviser Dominic Cummings claiming government was gripped by chaos during the early stages of the health crisis.

On Wednesday, Cummings accused Hancock of lying "on multiple occasions" during the pandemic, including about whether people would be tested before returning from hospitals to care homes.

© AP Photo / Frank AugsteinElderly man at a care home with a nurse in full PPE
BoJo Reportedly Ranted at Matt Hancock 'What a F****** Mess' For Care Home COVID Testing 'Failure' - Sputnik International, 1920, 30.05.2021
Elderly man at a care home with a nurse in full PPE

Cummings was testifying before MPs on 26 May as part of a probe by parliamentary committees into the UK government's handling of the pandemic.

Hancock rejected the allegations as "unsubstantiated," insisting that he was committed to improving capacity for testing.

© REUTERS / TOM NICHOLSONSir Keir Starmer outside a polling station
BoJo Reportedly Ranted at Matt Hancock 'What a F****** Mess' For Care Home COVID Testing 'Failure' - Sputnik International, 1920, 30.05.2021
Sir Keir Starmer outside a polling station

Amid the barrage of accusations levelled at the government, which is considering whether to further ease restrictions on 21 June, Labour party leader Keir Starmer has written in the Observer denouncing Johnson and his ministers of “covering their own backs” to combat the Indian coronavirus variant.

Starmer claims “mistakes are being repeated” as he made reference to the PM’s reluctance to impose a second lockdown in autumn last year.

“Weak, slow decisions on border policy let the Indian variant take hold… Lack of self-isolation support and confused local guidance failed to contain it. We all want to unlock on June 21 but the single biggest threat to that is the Government's incompetence,” said the opposition leader, adding:

“The Prime Minister was warned to prepare for a second wave. He did not do so. And over twice as many people died in the second wave than in the first.”
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала