'I WANT TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH THE PUBLIC'

Matt Hancock says he's 'profoundly sorry' for 'huge error' in pandemic planning 

- Giles Sheldrick

 

MATT Hancock yesterday laid bare the UK's failings in preparing for Covid and said he wanted above everything to be "brutally honest" with people.

The ex-Health Secretary said he felt it was vital to explain and admit "huge" errors that left the nation so exposed to the pandemic.

He told the Covid-19 inquiry: "I'm profoundly sorry for each death that has occurred. For some, it will be hard to take that apology." Contrite Mr Hancock, 44, added to the Express: "I just wanted to be brutally honest with the British public. I wanted to explain to everyone what it was like.

"That was my guiding principle to tell it as it was." On arrival at the Central London inquiry, Mr Hancock had a tense encounter with protesters who lost family in the crisis. It is calculated 227,871 people died in the UK with Covid on the death certificate.

In his three hours of evidence, the former minister said: "I am profoundly sorry for the impact that it had. I'm profoundly sorry for each death that has occurred.

"And I also understand why, for some, it will be hard to take that apology from me. I understand that, I get it. But it is honest. But that is honest and true." The then-married father of three became Health Secretary in mid-2018 but had to quit after a lockdown rule-breaking affair he conducted with an aide was exposed.

Yesterday he blamed poor preparations for the toll, claiming plans focused on dealing with deaths rather than averting them.

Mr Hancock said that it had left him exposed but as the person in charge of responding to the biggest health crisis in living memory - ultimately responsible for the problems.