It could have been a much trickier day for the health secretary, but now he, Tory MPs and the PM are all in this together
Through a glass darkly. Wasn’t it ironic, said the Conservative William Wragg, that so many Labour MPs who had previously dismissed Dominic Cummings as a Herod were now hailing the prime minister’s former chief adviser as some kind of prophet? Er, maybe … But it was also noticeable how many Tories, who had once seen Dom as some kind of terrifying, omnipotent genius, were now so quick to denounce him as a fraud. After all, without Cummings there would probably have been no Brexit and no 80-seat majority in the 2019 election.
After Matt Hancock was accused of being a serial liar who should have been sacked on many occasions, Thursday’s urgent question from his Labour shadow, Jon Ashworth, could have made for a tricky hour for the health secretary. Instead it was something of a breeze as Matt was love-bombed by a succession of Tory MPs – the government benches were almost (socially distanced) full, while the opposition benches were nearly empty – who had little interest in mistakes that might have been made in the past. It wasn’t the best of looks when tens of thousands of people may have died unnecessarily, but you couldn’t fault their loyalty.
