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A new leaked message sent by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock at the height of the pandemic reveals he clashed with colleagues and officials over attempts to get schools reopened.
The latest cash also reveals that then-Secretary of Education Sir Gavin Williamson told Mr. Hancock that teachers were looking for “excuse not to teach” during the pandemic.
Sir Gavin also revealed that he regretted not stepping down when the government made the decision to close schools in early 2021.
The exchange is the latest released by TelegraphOver 100,000 WhatsApp messages passed by journalist Isabel Oakshott.
She got them while writing the former health secretary’s memoir pandemic diaryand when she chose to pass the message to the newspaper, she claimed she was acting in the public interest.
A spokesman for Hancock said the former health secretary was “considering all options” in response to the leak by Oakshott, adding: “The proper place for such analysis is an investigation, part of classified documents. It’s not a targeted, topic-based leak.” ”.
Exchanges announced after December 2020 Telegraph An investigation revealed that Sir Gavin and Mr Hancock clashed over whether to keep schools open amid rising coronavirus cases.
Schools were forced to close after the government announced it would implement another nationwide lockdown after temporarily reopening in early January 2021.
After then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to allow schools to reopen in the second half of 2020, Mr Hancock reportedly told his aide, “There’s going to be the next U-turn.”
For more information Matt Hancock
He continued: To do so, we must take rearguard action. ”
Mr Hancock and his team later said in a message that before the announcement of the third lockdown, after a series of U-turns by ministers regarding return dates and secondary school testing requirements, Sir Gavin offered a “humble pie”. He said he was forced to eat.
According to further messages released by the inquiry, Sir Gavin complained to Mr Hancock that teachers “really hate their jobs” amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the school’s closure.
The exchange took place in October 2020, by which time schools had begun to gradually reopen after being closed during the initial lockdown.
The exam was canceled in late summer 2020, forcing Sir Gavin to abandon the controversial algorithm used to determine grades.
Following reports of the exam being delayed by a few weeks in 2021, Mr. Hancock sent Sir Gavin the following message: What an absolute bunch of donkeys the Teachers Union is! ”
Sir Gavin replied:
Hancock responded to the message with two laughing emojis and a bullseye emoji.
In response to the publication of these messages, Sir Gavin said his comments were “about some unions, not about teachers.”
“I have the utmost respect for teachers who work tirelessly to support their students,” he said.
Ministers were told there was “no strong reason” to require students to wear face masks at school and the decision was made to avoid “arguments” with Nicola Sturgeon.
The Scottish Prime Minister has announced that from summer 2020 it will be mandatory to wear face masks in the corridors and common areas of secondary schools in Scotland.
In an exchange between Mr Johnson and the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Chris Whitty, Lord Whitty argued that there was “no strong reason, no very strong reason, to oppose in the corridors or anything else” to change England. suggested that there was little evidence to support
He said he agreed it was “not worth discussing” with Mr. Sturgeon, and announced that the government would mandate face masks in schools the day after the exchange.
Johnson wrote in a WhatsApp group chat a week before schools reopened in England. [be] I have a question about masks at school. Can you check if they are needed before making another U-turn?”
Downing Street’s head of public relations, Lee Kane, questioned why Johnson “wanted to fight about not having a mask in certain school settings.”
“Given that Scotland has just confirmed the possibility, it’s hard to believe we can keep this line. At least we’re flexible and we’re not going to rule it out,” Kane said. said in a message.
In an October 2020 message, Social Services Minister Helen Waitley urged Mr Hancock to “loosen” the six-restriction rule for children under 12.
The Rule of 6 has been in place at multiple times during the pandemic and was introduced in September 2020 for all gatherings in indoor and outdoor settings.
Mr Hancock did not challenge Ms Waitley, but Downing Street said, “Like Tenth Avenue, I don’t want to go to this one. There’s a stay-at-home order, and I don’t want to move an inch.”
Earlier conversations, including with Professor Whitty in May 2020, suggested that the government did not want to deviate from the rule of 6 because it would be easier to communicate.
he said: [sic] I think it will be like that eventually because there is a reason and there is no strong reason to oppose it. ”
“That’s all right,” replied Mr. Hancock.