Hancock accused of ‘weaponising disabled children’ with threat to block centre if MP didn’t back COVID curbs | Politics News

Matt Hancock supports the Tory MP’s threat to block a disability center in a constituency in order to get him to vote for COVID restrictions, leaked notices show.

The former health minister has been accused of “despicable” conduct following the latest revelation based on a WhatsApp repository given to The Daily Telegraph.

According to the paper, texts show Mr Hancock has agreed to put pressure on James Daly, the Conservative MP for Bury North, if he does not vote with the government in 2020.

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Mr Hancock and an aide spoke of warning Mr Daly that a new center for children and adults with disabilities would be “indisputable” if he did not support a tiered COVID restriction system.

While the threat was never carried out, Sir Jake Berry, senior Conservative, described the messages as an “absolute disgrace” and called for the former cabinet minister to be brought before the House of Commons. for interrogation.

Sir Jake, whose son has a disability, said: “Once you get to the point of weaponizing the provision of care for children with disabilities, I think you’ve crossed the line.”

Mr Hancock’s team said “what is accused here never happened” as they argued for the “completely partial account”.

‘Get off the table if he’s rebellious’

The Telegraph reports that the discussion between Mr Hancock and political aide Allan Nixon comes ahead of a vote on 1 December 2020 on introducing new COVID restrictions in the UK.

At the time, Whitehall was scrambling to introduce measures amid the growing epidemic, but many Tory MPs opposed another blockade.

Mr Nixon said they needed to “hang our top questions” to some of the latest MPs who entered parliament in 2019 through Boris Johnson’s general election victory.

For example, he said: “James (Daly) wanted his Center for Learning Disabilities in Bury – whip called him up and said that the Medical team wanted to work with him to make this happen. but that would be indisputable if he rebelled.”

“The re-election of these people is up to us on many occasions and we know what they want. We should seriously consider using it IMO,” he wrote.

Mr. Hancock’s answer was “100% yes”.

Mr Daly told the paper he was “appalled” and “disgusted” that the disability center had been discussed as a way to force him to vote with ministers.

But he said the threat was never made against him.

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Hancock hits back at ‘biased’ account

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said: “As we have seen many times last week, it is completely wrong to take this account entirely and write it down as fact.

“What is accused here never happened, proves the story to be false, and shows why such a partial, biased approach to evidence is a terrible mistake, fueled by a man with a vested interest and an ax to sharpen.

“The right place to look at things about the pandemic objectively is in the public inquiry.”

However, MPs Rossendale and Darwen Sir Jake, former Tory Party chairman, said: “This is an absolute disgrace.

“The first thing Hancock should be dragged to the House of Commons bar tomorrow morning is for questioning about this.”

On Times Radio he added: “What he has effectively said is that he wants to weaponize the provision of care for children with disabilities to try to force MPs to vote in a way certain.

“Politics… is full of twists and turns and tricks.

“But I really think that once you get to the point of weaponizing the provision of care for children with disabilities, I think you’ve gone too far and as a local MP and.. As a father of a son with additional needs, I know how desperate it is to provide this type of care in the local area.

“And I just think it’s a completely despicable and appalling way of behaving towards Matt Hancock and his advisers.”

Prime Minister reiterated his commitment to investigate

More than 100,000 WhatsApp messages from Mr Hancock’s phone were provided to the Telegraph by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott after she co-authored the memoir Pandemic Diaries of the former health secretary.

The leaks have raised new questions about the government’s handling of the pandemic, but on Tuesday, Downing Street repeated its assertion that Rishi Sunak would rather the formal investigation considers all relevant matters rather than relying on “partial” information.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Funding decisions are made under strict guidelines to ensure value for money is regulated within the spending framework and that ministers and ministries are subject to responsible for those decisions.”

Asked if the alleged conduct was the way Mr Sunak wanted his ministers to be carried out, the spokesman said: “Of course, and there are rules and guidelines that apply that I just outlined. go out.”