Health secretary presides over yet more mixed messages over Christmas gatherings and tiering in England
If looks could kill … You know that the government’s guidance to visit your relatives over Christmas without actually visiting them is asking for trouble. I know that the government’s guidance to visit my relatives over Christmas without actually visiting them is a hopelessly confusing piece of messaging. But most of all, Matt Hancock also knows it.
Yet the health secretary sold his soul to Boris Johnson long ago. There was a time early in the pandemic when Matt appeared to be one of the few members of the cabinet to act with integrity. Someone who was prepared to call out the prime minister’s rubbish about the coronavirus being all over in three months: or, when that deadline had come and gone, be all over by Christmas. A minister prepared to level with the country about the severity of the crisis, the failure of the government’s response and committed to doing whatever it took to improve the situation.
