Former Tory chair slams ‘despicable’ Hancock for ‘threatening to withhold funding if MP rebelled’

Matt Hancock threatened to withhold funding for a studying incapacity hub if an MP rebelled in opposition to Covid restrictions, leaked WhatsApps recommend.

The former well being secretary and an aide mentioned taking the undertaking ‘off the desk’ if James Daly, the MP for Bury North, didn’t again the native tier system for Covid curbs.

Mr Daly stated he was ‘appalled’ and ‘disgusted’ by the messages however confirmed he had by no means been threatened with the scheme.

Mr Hancock’s crew stated ‘what’s being accused right here by no means occurred’ and disputed the ‘solely partial account’ based mostly on the trove WhatsApps leaked to The Telegraph.

But Senior Conservative Jake Berry stated the messages recommend Mr Hancock was ‘drunk on energy’ and are ‘absolute shame’. He known as for the previous Health Secretary to be hauled earlier than the Commons for questioning.

The messages, despatched on November 22 2020, got here forward of a Government vote on December 1 on the native tier system in England.

Allan Nixon, a particular advisor within the Department of Health, advised Mr Hancock that ‘we have to dangle our prime asks’ over among the latest MPs ‘pondering of rebelling’ who entered Parliament in 2019 via Boris Johnson’s common election victory.

Mr Nixon pointed to Mr Daly, who ‘desires his Learning Disability Hub in Bury’. 

He advised that the whips ‘name him up and say Health crew wish to work with him to ship this however that’ll be off the desk if he rebels’.

He added: ‘These guys’ re-election hinges on us in quite a lot of cases, and we all know what they need. We ought to significantly think about using it IMO’.

Mr Hancock’s response was ‘sure 100%’.

Exchanges on the day of the vote present that the previous Health Secretary stated Mr Daly ‘is with us’.

But Mr Nixon stated this was solely the case if ‘additional hospitality help is forthcoming’. 

However, Mr Daly was one of many 53 Tory MPs who voted in opposition to the tier system — marking the most important revolt below Boris Johnson.

The PM was pressured to depend on Labour abstaining from the vote as a way to get his measures via.

The three-tier system was launched on December 2, instantly after the four-week circuit breaker lockdown ended.

It meant everybody in England might go away their properties for any motive and non-essential outlets and gymnasiums have been open.

But individuals might solely meet in parks and public gardens and the rule of six was in power

At the time, Mr Johnson stated lifting these guidelines would ‘endanger’ the NHS and ‘power us into a brand new yr lockdown’ — which occurred in January 2021, regardless.

Further WhatsApp exchanges present that Mr Nixon despatched Mr Hancock a doc containing the names of 95 Tory MPs and whether or not they have been prone to insurgent. The attachment particulars every MP’s issues and what tier their constituency could be in below the system. 

MailOnline has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages, leaked to The Daily Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who helped Mr Hancock write his e book Pandemic Diaries.

In response to the WhatsApps, Mr Daly, who gained his seat from Labour by simply 105 votes in 2019, advised the newspaper he was ‘appalled’ and ‘disgusted’ that the incapacity hub was mentioned as a method to coerce him into voting with ministers.

But he stated he was shocked by the revelation as a result of the centre ‘by no means acquired dangled within the first place’ as ministers by no means proposed funding the hub, which Mr Daly says would profit ‘probably the most susceptible’. It has nonetheless not been created. 

He stated: ‘I had a lot of conversations with Hancock at the moment, however I can definitively say the hub was by no means talked about.

‘I believe it’s appalling. The proven fact that they’d solely give a a lot wanted help for disabled individuals if I voted for this was completely disgusting.’

But he stated ‘it sounds just like the whips did not trouble’ as a result of he by no means obtained a risk.

Mr Berry, a former Tory social gathering chairman, advised The Telegraph: ‘This is an absolute shame.

‘Hancock ought to be dragged to the bar of the House of Commons very first thing tomorrow morning to be questioned on this.’

In an interview with Times Radio this morning, he stated the messages present that Mr Hancock was ‘ready to do something’ to get his method or ‘drunk on energy’.

Mr Berry stated: · ‘Sometimes in politics it is not about what you say when persons are listening to you. It’s about what you say once they’re not. 

‘And I believe this clearly reveals both somebody who was ready to do something to get their very own method, or somebody sort of drunk on the facility of ordering individuals round and telling individuals what to do.

‘I believe the hazard is when the Government will get so used to telling individuals what to do prefer it did in Covid then they abruptly get very cross if individuals cease listening.’ 

Mr Hancock’s spokesman stated: ‘As we have repeatedly seen this final week, it’s fully unsuitable to take this solely partial account and write it up as reality.

‘What’s being accused right here by no means occurred, demonstrating the story is unsuitable, and exhibiting why such a biased, partial strategy to the proof is a nasty mistake, pushed by these with a vested curiosity and an axe to grind.

‘The proper place to think about all the pieces concerning the pandemic objectively is within the public inquiry.’