‘Matt Hancock is simply making an attempt to salvage his repute – lockdown was too late for my dad’

Matt Hancock has been accused of being more concerned with saving his reputation than saving lives in the future.

The shamed former Health Secretary insisted that lockdowns should be brought in as early as possible if a pandemic strikes again. This is despite Government dithering at the start of the Covid crisis.

Mr Hancock also claimed that do not resuscitate (DNR) orders had “obviously” been wrongly used during the pandemic. Giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry on Friday he insisted he had acted “immediately” when he became aware of concerns.

He also claimed it was “false, wrong and dangerous” to say lockdowns should be avoided in the future.

Rivka Gottlieb, whose father Michael died the day before the first lockdown, said: ” Matt Hancock spent this morning failing to defend his legacy in the face of indisputable and damning evidence. Even now, in the wake of over 230,000 Covid 19 deaths, he maintains that there are no lessons to be learned from his time as Secretary of State for Health.”

Her father was 73 when he died in April 2020. Rivka, speaking on behalf of the Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, said Mr Hancock glossed over failings that could have saved thousands of lives.

She said: “Lockdown was nine days later than it should have been, which led to my father’s death, alongside thousands of others.” And she added added: “We haven’t learnt much from his appearance, beyond the fact that he is more concerned by defending his reputation than saving lives in the future.

“He was never fit for public office, and the public have suffered the deadly consequences of his arrogance and incompetence.”

During his testimony Mr Hancock said a review should be carried out into the way DNR orders were used. He said: “I certainly think a review like that should be looked at because it’s obvious that there were cases when DNR notices were wrongly applied.

“And I think the issue of consent is so important here.” He admitted that no such review had been mooted while he was in office, but went on: “Now, of course, we’re no longer in a pandemic, and so now would be an appropriate moment to consider doing that.”

He claimed to have acted “immediately” that concerns were raised. Mr Hancock – who was forced to quit after video emerged showing him kissing a colleague while restrictions were in place – said: “The reality is that as soon as I heard about this being a potential problem and these concerns being raised with me, I immediately acted, because I feel so strongly about this.

“And I went public on it, including using the platform of the daily press conference to reiterate the total unacceptability of this and I discussed it with the NHS leadership, whose responsibility it was to stop it from happening.”

The former Health Secretary lashed out at lockdown sceptics, saying it should be an important tool in future pandemics. He stated: “The absolute number one thing that we can do to avoid this sort of trauma for NHS staff is to bring in lockdown measures early in response to a pandemic-level pathogen.

“And I think that those who understand the consequence of waiting before bringing in measures that are going to be necessary need to unite to win that argument. There are still people making the argument that lockdown wasn’t necessary, or in future we should try to do without it.

“I think that is false, wrong and dangerous, and the case needs to continue to be made so that should a pandemic-potential pathogen [hit us], which could happen at any time, we’re ready.”