‘Matt Hancock reveals he was ‘elated’ when Dominic Cummings was fired

Matt Hancock was ‘furious’ at accusations of staying the infamous ‘chatty rat’ and instead pointed the finger at Dominic Cummings, his diaries reveal.

Ideas for a whole lockdown in November 2020 ended up leaked to newspapers in just hours of a meeting of the Covid system group led by Boris Johnson.

The revelations sparked a main leak inquiry at No10 in an unsuccessful endeavor to detect the ‘chatty rat’.

Now the previous wellbeing secretary, in the 3rd exclusive extract from his pandemic diaries showcasing in the Mail, claims Mr Cummings briefed the Push to ‘bounce the PM into asserting the lockdown faster than later and end him U-turning’.

He states the No10 adviser smeared Mr Hancock when ‘dripping poison’ into Mr Johnson’s ear.

Matt Hancock was ‘furious’ at accusations of being the infamous ‘chatty rat’

Inspite of the perilous condition dealing with the state Mr Cummings ignored Mr Hancock’s calls, which the former minister explained was ‘pathetic, petty and downright irresponsible’.

When phony allegations emerged that he had been found in the Household of Commons bar late at night time or that he experienced been to have a haircut with Michael Gove, he pointed the finger at Mr Cummings. ‘I feel someone’s making an attempt to smear me… I consider I can acquire an educated guess,’ Mr Hancock wrote.

The bombshell claims expose the open up warfare concerning the two adult men as the Uk headed into the November national lockdown in 2020.

When Cummings was at last sacked that month, Mr Hancock admits he was ‘elated’, labelling the adviser ‘a horrifying, harmful, negative pressure for so long’.

As cases rose in the autumn of 2020, restrictions began to be re-launched, with regional ‘tiers’ maintaining a lot of North under restricted controls. By Oct health chiefs had been contacting for a ‘circuit breaker’ national lockdown – but No10 resisted until Halloween when 50,000 individuals have been turning into contaminated with coronavirus every working day.

The former Well being Secretary claims Dominic Cummings briefed the Press to ‘bounce the PM into announcing the lockdown sooner than later on and end him U-turning’

On the afternoon of Thursday, October 30, the key minister ‘grudgingly recognized the stark, painful facts’ and agreed to a 4-week lockdown at the Covid meeting, Hancock claimed.

Inside of hours the former well being secretary been given a information from ITV’s Robert Peston that examine: ‘I fully grasp that this pm [afternoon] you, PM, Chancellor and [Michael Gove] fulfilled. Am informed 99 for each cent likely there will be a total national lockdown from next Wed or Thurs.’

Mr Hancock was savoring evening meal out at an Indian restaurant with his family in Newmarket, part of his Suffolk constituency, when the text arrived through. He wrote in his diaries: ‘I virtually choked on my chapati. So the cat is out of the bag – previously! Furious, I forwarded the information to my spads [special advisers] and No10 comms. How the f*** had it leaked already? Only a handful of persons realized!

‘By the time I obtained household, I experienced an enraged Boris on the cellular phone stating his media people today had advised him hacks had been pointing the finger at me. ‘Whoever is telling you that is lying to you,’ I replied furiously.’

His diaries demonstrate how he immediately turned on Mr Cummings. ‘How experienced this occurred? My income is firmly on Dominic Cummings by way of his acolytes,’ he wrote. ‘The agenda? To bounce the PM into saying the lockdown faster than later on and quit him U-turning. If they obtained me sacked into the cut price, that would be a reward.

‘I texted the PM to say that of course the accusations towards me ended up untrue and I could show that if important.

‘Half an hour afterwards, he messaged asking me and [his adviser] Damon to provide our telephones into Downing Avenue on Monday. ‘With pleasure,’ I replied coldly.’

Mr Hancock reported he ‘hardly slept’ the night time prior to information of the lockdown strike the entrance webpages and he raged at the distraction brought about.

‘As lockdown approaches, I should be targeted on tests, the vaccine and obtaining the new steps proper to get us all out of this nightmare. Instead I am battling for my political existence,’ he stated. ‘This is no way to operate a nation.’

The leak inquiry ongoing nicely into very last yr and was never officially shut. For his part, Mr Cummings claimed the ‘chatty rat’ leaker was likely to be Henry Newman, who suggested Michael Gove in advance of he went into Downing Road and was an ally of Carrie Johnson.

He built the claim in an incendiary blogpost printed in April 2021, which was dubbed a ‘nuclear dom’ in Westminster due to its assaults on Mr Johnson. In response, sources close to the then-PM briefed the media that Mr Cummings had been ‘engaged in systematic leaking’.

In the weeks soon after the leak, Mr Hancock claimed he confronted a smear campaign with numerous allegations of rule-breaking briefed to the press.

He mentioned: ‘I consider someone’s striving to smear me. Initial I am falsely accused of currently being in a Commons bar following 10pm, then I’m falsely accused of leaking, and now The Sunlight wants to know if I went to have a haircut with Michael Gove at the weekend. Practically nothing to declare there.

‘One of my allies received a information from a journalist indicating, ‘We require to chat about who is framing Matt at some stage…’ I believe I can acquire an educated guess.’

But eventually Mr Cummings was supplied the sack pursuing a bust-up over staffing and accusations he had briefed versus the key minister.

Mr Hancock’s diaries display he was unable to disguise his pleasure. Crafting on November 13, he mentioned: ‘Cummings has long gone! I am elated and, extra than nearly anything, relieved for the sake of the vaccine and the state.

‘He’s been this kind of a horrifying, harmful, detrimental force for so extensive. ‘Now we can basically make a authorities that will work proficiently,’ I told Simon Scenario excitedly. My team – officials and advisers – are thrilled.’

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