Matt Hancock Says He Didn’t Watch Dominic Cummings’ Full Testimony Because He Was Busy “Saving Lives” | Political news

Matt Hancock says he didn’t watch all of Dominic Cummings’ testimony to MPs today because he “had to get the vaccine roll out … and save lives.”

The Health Secretary was repeatedly assaulted by the former Prime Minister’s adviser during a seven-hour committee hearing.

Then he said: “I didn’t see his performance in full today.

“Instead, I tried to kickstart the rollout of immunization, especially those over 30s, and save lives.

“I will be making a statement in the House of Commons tomorrow and I will have more to say then.”

During his appearance before the select health committee earlier today, Mr Cummings said: “I think the Secretary of State for Health should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everyone several times during the meeting. after a meeting in the cabinet room and in public.

“There is no doubt that many senior officials have performed well, very disastrously, below the standards the country has come to expect. I think the Secretary of State for Health is certainly one of them. These persons.

Mr Cummings said he encouraged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to sack Mr Hancock and claimed the cabinet secretary – the country’s top official – had recommended the same course of action.

Mr Cummings said it was taking too long to set up testing and tracing and that in April the “system was too distracted by Hancock’s promise” to achieve 100,000 tests per day, which the former counselor called it “stupid”.

“I said, ‘If we don’t fire the secretary of state and put the tests in somebody’s hands, we’re going to kill a lot of people. “”

Mr Cummings said Mr Johnson “was on the verge of sacking ‘Mr Hancock in April’, but fundamentally he would not.”

“There was certainly no good reason to keep him,” said the former adviser, adding that he had told the prime minister: “If we don’t fire the secretary of state … we will .. .