Images of Matt Hancock playing cricket in his office have resurfaced in the wake of claims he was a star batsman at the height of the pandemic.
A former top official this week revealed how the then Health Secretary claimed in early 2020 that he ‘loved’ the responsibility of leading the NHS during the worst crisis in its history.
Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary between 2020 and 2021, also described how Mr Hancock adopted the stance of a Downing Street batsman during the bizarre incident.
She claimed he told her: “They throw them at me, I’ll hit them away.”
In her evidence to the Covid inquiry yesterday, Ms MacNamara said she included the anecdote in her witness statement because it showed the “nuclear levels” of overconfidence displayed by Mr Hancock during the Covid pandemic.
She also told the inquiry that Mr Hancock had a questionable record on the truth and often insisted that things were ‘absolutely fine’ when they were ‘very, very far from fine’.
Images of Matt Hancock playing cricket in his office have resurfaced following claims he faked being a star batsman at the height of the Covid pandemic
Filmed in May 2019, less than ten months before Britain entered its first Covid lockdown, Mr Hancock was seen seizing both bat and ball during the match.
The video, posted to mark the start of that summer’s Cricket World Cup, ends with Mr Hancock complaining about the ball being lost behind a radiator.
The images provoked a series of negative reactions from social media users at the time. One described it as ‘tragic’, while others compared it to TV shows Alan Partridge and The Office
In the wake of Ms MacNamara’s testimony, a video of Mr Hancock playing cricket with staff in his Department of Health office has been unearthed on social media.
Filmed in May 2019, less than ten months before Britain entered its first Covid lockdown, Mr Hancock was seen clutching both the bat and ball during the match.
In footage focusing solely on the then-minister, with his staff standing awkwardly along the edge of the room, Mr Hancock is shown attempting to hit forward defensive and reverse sweep shots.
He was also filmed making catches, including a jump attempt in which he threw himself to the ground and almost crashed into a white sofa.
The video, posted to mark the start of that summer’s Cricket World Cup, ends with Mr Hancock complaining about the ball being lost behind a radiator.
It provoked a series of negative reactions from social media users at the time. One described it as ‘tragic’, while others compared it to TV shows Alan Partridge and The Office.
Ms MacNamara’s evidence to the Covid inquiry on Wednesday came after it emerged Mr Hancock had been branded a ‘c***’ and a ‘proven liar that no one believes’ in foul-mouthed WhatsApp messages sent by former Number 10 assistant Dominic Cummings.
Appearing before the inquiry, Ms MacNamara said there was a pattern of being ‘reassured that something was absolutely fine’ by Mr Hancock before discovering it was ‘very, very far from fine’.
She said the ex-health minister told fellow ministers ‘over and over again’ without ‘any ambiguity’ that there were plans in place during the pandemic, which turned out not to be the case.
Andrew O’Connor KC, counsel for the inquiry, asked: ‘Would it be fair to say that you were surprised and disappointed when you realized that what he had said was not actually true?’
“I was surprised, yes,” Ms. MacNamara replied.
In her witness statement to the inquiry, the former top official said that ‘the usual systems of governance in Whitehall depend on people being truthful’ and suggested that people working in government do not trust Mr Hancock.
Asked whether she believed Mr Hancock was not saying things that were true, she told the inquiry: ‘It is absolutely the government’s view. I think it’s fair to say that this is what we experienced.
“So that what was said in a meeting was actually under control or would be delivered, or something that was fine, that then we would find out, sometimes a matter of days, or sometimes weeks later, that it was” That’s not actually the case.’
Ms MacNamara’s witness statement also describes how she once asked Mr Hancock if he needed extra support in April 2020, after he recently recovered from Covid and returned to Downing Street.
Mr O’Connor read from the statement: ‘He assured me that he had “loving responsibility” and to demonstrate this he assumed a batsman’s stance outside the Cabinet Room and said: ‘they throw them at me, I knock them away.”
When asked why she included the anecdote in her statement, Ms MacNamara told the inquiry: ‘I’m trying to explain how shocking some of that was. It partly goes back to my point about the nuclear confidence levels that were deployed, which I think is a problem. It really stuck with me at this moment.”
She added: ‘It was important to me at the time, so I felt it was important to involve it in this way. It’s more about trust than anything else.”
Asked whether she meant confidence or overconfidence, Ms MacNamara replied: “Yes, overconfidence.”
Mr O’Connor said: ‘You tried to engage with Mr Hancock about the incredibly burdensome scope and impact of the decisions he would have to make, the impact of those decisions on the lives of everyone in the country. And he thought he was playing cricket.”
Ms MacNamara replied: ‘I assumed it would weigh heavily on his shoulders. He may tell you that it was and that he felt it was important to project something else instead.
“I don’t know, I just know how I experienced that.”
Helen MacNamara, one of Britain’s most senior officials during Covid, revealed how Mr Hancock said he ‘loved’ the responsibility of leading the NHS during the pandemic crisis
Mr Hancock has been criticized for showing “nuclear levels” of overconfidence during the coronavirus outbreak
Asked why she included the cricket anecdote in her witness statement, Ms MacNamara told the inquiry: ‘I’m trying to explain how shocking some of that was’
Ms MacNamara also suggested in her witness statement to the inquiry that people working in government did not trust Mr Hancock
Mr Hancock was branded a ‘c***’ and a ‘proven liar who no one believes’ in foul-mouthed WhatsApp messages sent by former Number 10 aide Dominic Cummings
Ms MacNamara, who as a senior civil servant was responsible for decency and ethics, was handed a police fine after the Met Police’s ‘Partygate’ investigation into illegal lockdown meetings in Downing Street.
She attended a farewell ceremony for a No. 10 civil servant in June 2020 – when indoor social gatherings of two or more people were banned – and provided a karaoke machine for the event.
In his own testimony to the inquiry this week, Cummings described how he had urged then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to sack Hancock in the summer of 2020.
“In my opinion, this was one of his worst and most inexcusable decisions,” Cummings said.
‘The Prime Minister knew and often expressed over the summer not only what a terrible job Hancock had done, but also how dishonest he was.
“If we had replaced Hancock before August, things like rapid testing would have gone smoother, planning would have been fairer and more effective, and thousands would have survived.”
A spokesman for Matt Hancock said: ‘Mr Hancock has supported the investigation throughout and will respond to all questions when he gives evidence.’