Matt Hancock allegedly failed to follow advice to test all people entering into care homes during the pandemic, bombshell leaked messages have suggested.
The former Health Secretary has furiously disputed suggestions that he ignore clinical guidance when he decided to make it mandatory to test those entering care homes from hospital but not those coming from the community.
WhatsApp messages leaked to the Daily Telegraph show Mr Hancock said he did not think committing to testing those from the community - including care home staff - added anything and “muddies the waters”.
This was despite guidance from Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty telling him there should be testing for “all going into care homes” in April 2020.
Testing was implemented for all people entering care homes in August 2020.
Today, Mr Hancock's spokesman said the messages had been "doctored to create a false story" that the top Tory ignored clinical advice, adding: "This is flat wrong."
The spokesman said the tranche of messages offered a "distorted account" and were being "spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda".
The explosive row calls into question the Government’s insistence that it was always “following the science” during the pandemic.
A backlash is expected from families who lost relatives in care homes - and have already accused the Government of neglecting their loved ones.
More than 45,000 people living in care homes died with Covid in England and Wales during the first two years of the pandemic.
In 2021, Mr Hancock told the Health and Social Care Select Committee that “the strongest route of the virus into care homes, unfortunately, is community transmission, so it was staff testing that was most important thing for keeping people safe in care homes”.
The revelations were reported last night by The Telegraph, which has obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between the then Health Secretary and other ministers and officials during the pandemic.
They contain 2.3million words and more controversial details about major decisions made by officials are expected to be released in the coming days.
The messages are said to show the often casual approach that officials took in huge decisions including to close classrooms, introduce face masks in schools, as well as provide testing in care homes.
The key messages relating to the first bombshell revelation are between Mr Hancock and one of his aides, Allan Nixon.
On April 14 2020, at almost 6.30pm, Mr Nixon sent a message saying: “Just to check: officials are saying your steer is to remove the commitment to testing on admission to care homes from the community, but keep commitment to testing on admission to care homes from hospital. Is that right?”
Twenty-five minutes later, he messaged again: “Update: we can say in the doc that it’s our ambition to test everyone going into a care home from the community where care homes want (‘in the comings weeks’ is the suggested timeframe I’ve been told).”
Mr Hancock responded: “Tell me if I’m wrong but I would rather leave it out and just commit to test & isolate ALL going into care from hospital. I do not think the community commitment adds anything and it muddies the waters.”
The ex-Health Secretary's spokesman said a key part had been left out of the messages, where the aide said that he hadn't been in the meeting which "changes the context of the article".
The spokesman 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.
"On April 14th Matt received a response to his request for advice from the Chief Medical Officer’s that testing was needed for people going into care homes, which he enthusiastically accepted.
"Later that day he convened an operational meeting on delivering testing for care homes where he was advised it was not currently possible to test everyone entering care homes, which he also accepted.
"Matt concluded that the testing of people leaving hospital for care homes should be prioritised because of the higher risks of transmission, as it wasn’t no possible to mandate everyone going into care homes got tested.
"The Telegraph have doctored the messages by excluding a key line from the texts by Allan Nixon. Nixon says, “I wasn’t in testing mtg”, which changes the context of the exchange depicted in the article.
"It demonstrates there was a meeting at which advice on deliverability was given. By omitting this, the messages imply Matt simply overruled clinical advice. That is categorically untrue.
"He went as far as was possible, as fast as possible, to expand testing and save lives. This story categorically shows that the right place for this analysis of what happened in the pandemic is in the inquiry.”
The WhatsApp messages were leaked to The Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist who was given copies of them while working on Mr Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries memoir.
Referring to the Covid-19 public inquiry, of which a lot of the findings could take years to be released, she told the newspaper she wanted to make the information public as “we absolutely cannot wait any longer for answers”.
Mr Hancock denied what was called the “distorted account” with a spokesman alleging the leaked messages have been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda”.
He is said to be "considering all options" in response to the leak, with a source close to him saying: "She's [Ms Oakeshott] broken a legal NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Her behaviour is outrageous."
The spokesman said "instead of spinning and leaks we need the full, comprehensive inquiry".
"It is outrageous that this distorted account of the pandemic is being pushed with partial leaks, spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of lives if followed. What the messages do show is a lot of people working hard to save lives," the spokesman said.
"The story spun on care homes is completely wrong. What the messages show is that Mr Hancock pushed for testing of those going into care homes when that testing was available.
"The full documents have already all been made available to the inquiry, which is the proper place for an objective assessment, so true lessons can be learned."
