Dominic Cummings blog: what did Boris Johnson say about Matt Hancock in WhatsApp texts published on Substack?

Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has published a WhatsApp exchange in which the Prime Minister appeared to describe Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s performance as “totally f***ing hopeless”.

In a set of questions Dominic Cummings believes Prime Minister Boris Johnson should be asked about the Government’s handling of the pandemic, he said: “Given his failures on testing, care homes and PPE why did you keep in post a Secretary of State you described yourself as ‘totally f**king hopeless’ and how many more people died as a result of your failure to remove him?”

The former aide was alluding to a WhatsApp message appearing to be from the Prime Minister.

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Mr Cummings - who left Downing Street in November - published a screenshot purporting to show an exchange between him and the Prime Minister.

It showed the controversial aide criticising Mr Hancock over testing to which a contact purporting to be the Prime Minister replied: “Totally f****** hopeless.”

Continuing in his questions, Mr Cummings also said: “Why is No10 lying, including to Parliament, about the fact that the original plan was “herd immunity by September” and had to be abandoned?

“When did Patrick Vallance brief you on NHS data showing that the death rate at the first April peak was much higher than before/after the peak and do you now agree with Hancock that every patient got the treatment they needed?

“Do you now agree with Hancock that there was no shortage of PPE or do you agree with yourself in April 2020 that PPE supply was ‘a disaster’ that required moving Hancock?

“How many people died in care homes because of what you called the ‘disaster’ on PPE and what you called Hancock’s ‘totally f**king hopeless’ performance on testing in March?

“When will the SoS come to the House and correct his many false statements to MPs?”