London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jun 20, 2025

PM said test and trace would be ‘like whistling in the dark’, says Cummings

PM said test and trace would be ‘like whistling in the dark’, says Cummings

Former adviser publishes contents of April 2020 email from Boris Johnson expressing concern over Matt Hancock’s plans for testing
Boris Johnson believed the national test-and-trace system was “like whistling in the dark” and that the UK was on course to achieve the “double distinction of being the European country with the most fatalities and the biggest economic hit”, he reportedly told Dominic Cummings at the height of the pandemic’s first wave.

The prime minister allegedly expressed his view in an email to his closest adviser in April 2020 amid concern in Downing Street over serious shortcomings in plans for mass testing by Matt Hancock’s Department of Health and Social Care.

Publishing what he said were Johnson’s words, Cummings said the prime minister confided that he feared the proposed system to track down Covid cases and stop transmission was like “legions of imaginary Clouseaus [fictional French detectives] and no plan to hire them”.

Johnson reportedly complained of “apps that don’t yet work” and “above all no idea how to get new cases down to a manageable level or how long it will take … by which time [the] UK may have [the] secured double distinction of being the European country with the most fatalities and the biggest economic hit”. He concluded: “We GOTTA turn it round.”

The email, sent on 26 April 2020, was published on Friday by Cummings in a new blogpost entitled: “More evidence on how the PM’s & Hancock’s negligence killed people.”

His gloomy assessment contrasted strongly with the prime minister’s public statement the next day that “if this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected and invisible mugger … then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor”.

Cummings also revealed that he warned Johnson the government was “negligently killing” care home residents in the first wave of pandemic due to a failure by Hancock’s department to organise Covid testing.

Cummings told the prime minister on 3 May 2020 by WhatsApp: “these goddam plans should already exists … but I don’t think they do” and that “at the moment I think we are negligently killing the most vulnerable who we’re supposed to be shielding and I am extremely worried about it”.

At the time of the warning there was desperation in care homes where more than 2,000 residents in England and Wales were still dying from Covid each week. Care operators warned on 5 May that more than three-quarters of care staff were not being tested despite a promise by Hancock three weeks earlier that there was capacity for all of them.

“He cannot claim ‘nobody told me’,” said Cummings in the blogpost. The revelations came as Downing Street gave its backing to Hancock after he apologised for breaking social distancing guidelines when he kissed a colleague last month.

A few days after Cummings’ warning about care home deaths, the Guardian reported care operators’ anger that testing was “a complete system failure” even though Hancock had promised tests for all care residents from 28 April. With care staff unable to detect who had the virus, deaths of care home residents from the virus didn’t drop below 1,000 until the end of the month.

Care operators responded to the revelations by noting that weeks later Johnson publicly blamed care operators for deaths, saying “too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have”.

“If these messages are accurate, it’s clear that the PM was aware of the risk to vulnerable people due to a lack of testing capacity,” said Nadra Ahmed, the executive chairman of the National Care Association, who recalled that it had been impossible to know who had the virus as testing was taking more than 10 days in some cases. “The tragedy of this is the potential that lives were lost unnecessarily because these problems weren’t recognised or rectified.”

According to his blog, Cummings told the PM on 7 May 2020 that Hancock was “unfit for this job” and that him staying in place was “killing god knows how many”, although he didn’t provide any documentary evidence to support that.

He said that after returning from illness with Covid on 13 April, the following couple of weeks of meetings with Hancock left “many people” concluding that on testing in care homes, “operational delivery was terrible” and “we were therefore killing people we claimed to be shielding”.

“The PM agreed that Hancock’s failures were a catastrophe but refused to fire him,” Cummings claimed.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
UK Home Secretary Apologizes Over Child Grooming Failures
Trump Organization Launches 5G Mobile Network and Golden Handset
Towcester Hosts 2025 English Greyhound Derby Amid Industry Scrutiny
Gary Oldman and David Beckham Knighted in King's Birthday Honours
Over 30,000 Lightning Strikes Recorded Across UK During Overnight Storms
Princess of Wales Returns to Public Duties at Trooping the Colour
Red Arrows Use Sustainable Fuel in Historic Trooping the Colour Flypast
Former Welsh First Minister Addresses Unionist Concerns Over Irish Language
Iran Signals Openness to Nuclear Negotiations Amid Ongoing Regional Tensions
France Bars Israeli Arms Companies from Paris Defense Expo
King Charles Leads Tribute to Air India Crash Victims at Trooping the Colour
Jack Pitchford Embarks on 200-Mile Walk to Support Stem Cell Charity
Surrey Hikers Take on Challenge of Climbing 11 Peaks in a Single Day
UK Deploys RAF Jets to Middle East Amid Israel-Iran Tensions
Two Skydivers Die in 'Tragic Accident' at Devon Airfield
Sainsbury's and Morrisons Accused of Displaying Prohibited Tobacco Ads
UK Launches National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs
Families Seek Closure After Air India Crash
Gold Emerges as Global Safe Haven Amid Uncertainty
Trump Reports $57 Million Earnings from Crypto Venture
Trump's Military Parade Sparks Concerns Over Authoritarianism
Nationwide 'No Kings' Protests Challenge Trump's Leadership
UK Deploys Jets to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions
Trump's Anti-War Stance Tested Amid Israel-Iran Conflict
Germany Holds First Veterans Celebration Since WWII
U.S. Health Secretary Dismisses CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi Urges Overthrow of Khamenei Regime
×