LONDON (Reuters) – A former aide to Boris Johnson reignited a row with Britain’s health minister on Wednesday, publishing what he said was an exchange with the British prime minister who branded the COVID-19 testing programme totally “hopeless”.
Reuters could not independently verify whether the exchange was genuine. Johnson’s Downing Street office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, criticised his ex-boss’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it was “crackers” that someone like him was prime minister.
Cummings also aired particular disdain for Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who he said had repeatedly lied in government meetings on COVID and should be sacked.
Hancock rejected the allegations and some in the Conservative Party say that Cummings has an axe to grind after being forced from his post.
In a blog, Cummings said people should ask Johnson several questions over why he had kept Hancock in his position when he had described him as hopeless.
He posted screenshots of exchanges with the prime minister in which Johnson used an expletive and cast Hancock as “hopeless”.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
