Health Secretary Matt Hancock will lead this afternoon’s coronavirus press briefing from Downing Street at 5pm today, hours after appearing in the House of Commons to answer questions regarding Dominic Cumming’s evidence on the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Mr Hancock is likely to face questions on the allegations of ‘lying and being disastrously incompetent’ as he faces journalists at today’s briefing.
In response to the allegations from Mr Cummings, Mr Hancock said: ‘These allegations that were put yesterday… are serious allegations and I welcome the opportunity to come to the House to put formally on the record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true, and that I’ve been straight with people in public and in private, throughout.
‘Every day, since I began working on the response to this pandemic last January, I’ve got up each morning and asked: “What must I do to protect life?” That is the job of a health secretary in a pandemic.
‘We’ve taken an approach of openness, transparency and explanation of both what we know and what we don’t know.’
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van Tam and NHS England’s Dr Nikki Kanani are also expected to appear alongside Mr Hancock at today’s press conference.
