'Is Matt Hancock totally hopeless?': Nick Ferrari puts minister on the spot

17 June 2021, 08:24

Would you agree that Matt Hancock is totally hopeless

By EJ Ward

'Do you think Matt Hancock is hopeless': Nick Ferrari asked a government minister following a leak of comments made by Boris Johnson.

Just one day after the Prime Minister's former chief adviser released a bombshell trove of WhatsApp messages, Nick Ferrari put one government minister on the spot.

"Would you agree that Matt Hancock is totally hopeless?" Nick asked Treasury Minister Jesse Norman.

The former chief aide to the Prime Minister published WhatsApp messages purportedly showing Mr Johnson describing the Health Secretary as "hopeless" early in the coronavirus pandemic.

But, Mr Norman was not keen to take aim at the Health Secretary.

"I'm not going to comment on that," he told Nick which led to the LBC presenter firing back, asking "so you don't disagree then?"

But the Treasury Minister did everything he could not to be drawn in answering the question.

Branding Nick a "man with a great flare for the gotcha," the minister said he would not comment.

Former PM Gordon Brown on 'f***ing hopeless' Hancock

Mr Cummings, who has blamed Mr Hancock for failings during the Covid response, published a screenshot apparently showing a WhatsApp exchange between himself and the Prime Minister.

On March 3 last year, the controversial former aide highlighted the US's ramping up of testing capacity and criticised Mr Hancock for saying he was "sceptical" about meeting a target.

The Prime Minister purportedly responded: "Totally f****** hopeless."

Mr Cummings, who left Downing Street in November during a bitter power struggle in No 10, has targeted much of his criticism since leaving at the Health Secretary.

In a blog post exceeding 7,000 words, Mr Cummings also published another private message about the struggles to procure ventilators for Covid-19 patients.

"It's Hancock. He has been hopeless," a contact appearing to be Mr Johnson replied on March 27 last year.