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The contempt is real. A freshly-released batch of WhatsApp messages exchanged between Matt Hancock and his Tory colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic have been made public on Saturday – and Dominic Cummings gets a verbal lashing.
Telegraph journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who had gained access to Hancock’s WhatsApp texts to publish his Pandemic Diaries, decided to leak the trove of messages earlier this week. The former Health Secretary has branded the move as a ‘betrayal’.
Cummings, a former advisor to Boris Johnson, cut a controversial figure during his time at the top of British politics. His decision to drive up to Durham at the height of our first lockdown – then ‘test his eyesight’ at Barnard Castle – drew a firestorm of criticism at the time.
However, Hancock and his fellow ministers rallied round Cummings, arguing that he had put his family first. Little over a year later, Cummings spilled the beans to a Select Committee, largely blaming Hancock for causing ‘tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths’.
This act of treachery riled Mr. Hancock – and his closest aide, Jamie Njoku-Goodwin. Serving as his media advisor, JNG pulled no punches when it came to describing Cummings and his shock u-turn on the government he served under.
The aide branded Cummings as ‘a f*****g piece of s**t’, and fumed over his perceived lack of loyalty.
“I was going to message you, but what a f*****g piece of s**t. You went out and backed him over Barnard Castle, and he responds by briefing against you relentlessly, both in private and in public. What a psychopath.” | Jamie Njoku-Goodwin
To Hancock’s credit – a phrase that doesn’t get many outings, we’ll admit – he manages to strike a much more diplomatic tone in his personal response. Though he accused Cummings of ‘running a circus’ and ‘talking crap’, he also said the best approach would be to ‘rise above it’.
