Ex-health secretary Matt Hancock defends his record at UK’s COVID inquiry

LONDON (AP) — Former British health secretary Matt Hancock defended his record at the U.K.'s COVID-19 inquiry on Thursday, contesting widespread accusations of incompetence in leading the response to the biggest public health crisis Britain faced in a century.

The inquiry, which began public hearings this summer, is questioning key government officials about their political decision-making — namely when they decided to impose national lockdowns — during the pandemic.

Hancock played a key role in the U.K.’s pandemic response but resigned in 2021 after he was caught on camera kissing his aide in his office, breaking the social distancing rules in place at the time.

A number of officials who gave evidence at the inquiry have accused Hancock of being “overoptimistic” and recalled concerns at the time about poor organization within the health department under him.

The inquiry heard that in one WhatsApp message, Mark Sedwill, the U.K.’s most senior civil servant at the time, joked to Downing Street’s permanent secretary that it was necessary to remove Hancock to “save lives and protect the NHS (National Health Service).”

Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy Cabinet secretary, said in her testimony that Hancock displayed “nuclear levels” of overconfidence and a pattern of reassuring colleagues the pandemic was being dealt with in ways that were not true.

Responding to questioning about the accusations, Hancock told the inquiry Thursday that he and his department repeatedly tried but failed to “wake up” the central government and warn of the coming pandemic early in 2020.

“From the middle of January, we were trying to effectively raise the alarm,” he said. “This wasn’t a problem that couldn’t be addressed only from the health department. Non-pharmaceutical interventions cannot be put in place by a health department. The health department can’t shut schools. It should have been grasped and led from the center of government earlier.”

“We were on occasions blocked and at other times, I would say our concerns were not taken as seriously as they should have been until the very end of February,” he added.

Officials also confirmed Thursday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give evidence for two days next week in the inquiry.

The former leader is scheduled to make a highly anticipated appearance next Wednesday and Thursday. Current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was Treasury chief during the pandemic, also is expected to give evidence later in December.

The U.K. had one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks, with around 230,000 coronavirus-related deaths up to Sept. 28, according to government statistics. Many bereaved families say decisions and actions by politicians at the time contributed to many unnecessary deaths.

The inquiry will not find any individual guilty, but is intended to learn lessons from how the country prepared for and coped with the crisis.