Despite allegations by then-Health Minister Matt Hancock that ministers had put a “protective ring” around nursing homes, the court found that the government had broken the law by failing to protect thousands of the elderly and disabled in March 2020 and April. The response from both Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock was to shift the responsibility very clearly to the most disorganized Public Health in England. During the PMQ, Mr. Johnson said: “What we did not know specifically was that COVID could be transmitted asymptomatically the way it was. “This is something I would like to know more about at that time.” Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:49 The Prime Minister was called to apologize to the PMQ In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Hancock said: “This court case completely acquits the ministers of any wrongdoing and finds that Mr Hancock has acted reasonably in all cases. Politics Hub: Boris Johnson accused of ‘incoherent riot’ at PMQ “The court also found that the Public Health of England failed to tell the ministers what they knew about the asymptomatic transmission.” But that is not the explanation given to me by Mr Hancock last week, when we had a long and rather difficult exchange of views on the subject during an interview. I asked him if he regretted the way they treated him and if he was wrong. His response was emphatic – the policy was not wrong, he said, and it was not wrong to fire people from hospitals into care homes. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 19:49 Beth Rigby sits with Hancock to discuss the pandemic His argument was that the test regime simply did not exist, and therefore people could not be kept in hospital indefinitely. He argued that the media account of the caregiver issue was incorrect. But that is not what the Supreme Court found today. He said the policies in the spring of 2020 were illegal because they did not take into account the risk of asymptomatic transmission to vulnerable people. As we have heard so often during the pandemic – ministers are ultimately responsible, no matter how technical or complex the policy area. Read more: The caregiver’s daughter victim says the “protective ring” allegations were “lies”, says Hancock “we worked as hard as we could to protect nursing homes” Advisers advise, as the saying goes, but ministers decide. Matt Hancock’s argument today is that his advisers did not advise. But that is different from saying that it was not wrong to release people from the hospital without examinations, as he told me last week.
