|
 Dominic Cummings, who was Prime Minister Boris Johnson's right hand
man until late last year, delivered a withering attack on his former
boss and Hancock during seven hours of testimony before a
parliamentary committee on Wednesday, saying their ineptitude led to
tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
Johnson, Cummings said, was unfit for his role, while his greatest
criticism was reserved for Hancock who he said had repeatedly lied
to such an extent that the country's top civil servant lost
confidence in his honesty.
"These allegations that were put yesterday ... are serious
allegations and I welcome the opportunity ... to put formally on the
record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not
true, and that I've been straight with people in public and in
private throughout," Hancock told parliament.
With almost 128,000 deaths, the United Kingdom has the world's fifth
highest official COVID-19 toll, far higher than the government's
initial worst-case estimates of 20,000.
One of the most damning allegations from Cummings was that Hancock's
statement that the government had thrown a "protective ring around"
care homes at the start of the pandemic was nonsense, and that
instead people had been sent back from hospital who had contracted
the coronavirus.
The opposition Labour Party says if he had lied, he should lose his
job.
"I've been straight with people in public and in private
throughout," Hancock said. "Every day since I began working on the
response to this pandemic last January, I've got up each morning and
asked, 'what must I do to protect life'. That is the job of a health
secretary in a pandemic."
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 Lawmakers from the governing
Conservative Party rallied around Hancock, while
Jeremy Hunt, a co-chairman of the committee at
which Cummings had appeared, said the
allegations from the former aide should be
treated as unproven until evidence was provided
to back them up.
Hancock is also due to face questioning from
media at a news conference later.
Johnson told parliament on Wednesday nobody
could credibly accuse him or his government of
complacency, and that the government had always
sought to minimise loss of life.
"I think it is (wrong)," housing minister Robert
Jenrick told BBC radio when asked about the
allegation from Cummings that tens of thousands
of people had died unnecessarily.
"Nobody could doubt for one moment that the
prime minister was doing anything other than
acting with the best of motives with the
information and the advice that was available to
him."
(Reporting by Michael Holden and William James,
editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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