UK PM stands by health minister despite calling him ‘hopeless’ in messages

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has full confidence in his under-fire health secretary, his spokesman said on Wednesday, despite private WhatsApp exchanges emerging in which he appears to slam the minister’s “hopeless” handling of the pandemic.

The endorsement of the beleaguered Health Secretary Matt Hancock came hours after Johnson’s messages with former chief aide Dominic Cummings — who stepped down from the role in December — were posted online by the controversial ex-advisor.

Cummings, who has spent recent months savaging both his former boss and Hancock, tweeted screenshots of the exchanges apparently between him and Johnson in March and April last year as Britain battled the first wave of the pandemic.

The prime minister apparently responded, “Totally [obscenity] hopeless” to a comment by his ex-aide that Hancock was unsure he would reach a target of 10,000 virus tests per week on schedule.

In another reply, Johnson blamed Hancock for the UK’s difficulty in getting hold of ventilators. “It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless,” the message said.

The British leader’s spokesman would not comment on the messages, but simply replied “yes” when asked by reporters if he had total confidence in Hancock.

“The prime minister has worked very closely with the health and social care secretary and will continue to do so,” the spokesman added.

Cummings, a key strategist behind the Conservative Party’s 2019 election victory and the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, said he was posting the messages to back up his explosive allegations against Hancock in evidence given to lawmakers during select committee hearings in late May.

‘Unfit’ 

Speaking to MPs, Cummings on May 26 singled out Hancock for criticism, alleging he lied to colleagues on numerous occasions, including over pledges to test all elderly patients released from hospital back into care homes.

Cummings said the health minister “should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things” after “lying to everybody on multiple occasions, in meeting after meeting, in the Cabinet room and publicly”.

Hancock last week rejected the claims as he gave evidence to MPs, denying he had ever said anything to Johnson he knew was untrue.

Cummings in his evidence also condemned Johnson’s leadership during the pandemic, saying he was “unfit for the job”.

The latest exchanges appear to show he played a dominant role in his dealings with the prime minister, who at one point asks him: “Wtf do we do?”

Johnson did not respond to a question on the posts from an MP at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament on Wednesday.

Britain has been one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, recording nearly 128,000 deaths, the highest toll in Europe.

A successful vaccination drive in Britain has since helped bring deaths down sharply.

But the emergence of the Delta variant, initially called the Indian variant, has led to an increase in cases and anxiety over a potential third wave that prompted Johnson this week to delay a planned full lifting of virus restrictions.