Whitty advised Johnson in a message there were neither strong reasons for or against, concluding: “So agree not worth an argument.” The messages: A decision on whether secondary school students in England should wear masks for the next academic year seemingly ended up being decided because Scotland had already ruled that pupils there should. With total Covid deaths in England nearing 20,000, the health secretary faced pressure at the nightly government press conference about the numbers dying in care homes, up to a quarter of the total, and whether he had been negligent in not testing people moved into care homes. The situation at the time: You can see why Hancock wanted some positive news. Osborne agreed, in return for “some exclusive words”. The messages: Desperate to meet his self-imposed target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, Hancock messaged George Osborne, the Tory chancellor-turned-Evening Standard editor, to seek the “favour” of a page one story about testing the next day. A total of 1,254 UK Covid deaths were recorded, with evidence emerging that a significant number were in care homes. However, the country was still lacking the instant lateral flow tests that allowed mass, regular testing later in the pandemic. Testing had been ramped up from a slow start, with just under 75,000 lab-based PCR tests taking place in the previous seven days. The situation at the time: The UK was at the peak of the first Covid wave, with a vaccine not yet in sight and the Office for Budget Responsibility predicting a potential 35% shrinkage in GDP.

Hancock, backed up by Helen Whately, a current health minister, has insisted this was a partial picture, missing out vital counter-evidence. The messages: Hancock, the health secretary at the time, seemingly pushes back against advice from England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, to test all people going into care homes for Covid.

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