Pandemic Diaries: The inside story of Britain’s battle against Covid

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The MP for West Suffolk gives his unique perspective on how the NHS rose to the challenge, recognizing the incredible hard work and sacrifice of so many, and offers an honest assessment of the lessons we need to learn for next time—because there will be a next time. This unique book, based on the author's contemporaneous records of those extraordinary months, candidly recounts firsthand the most important events and decisions as they unfolded throughout this unprecedented global emergency. The latest incarnation, edited by the journalist and broadcaster Simon Heffer, is far racier and more gossipy than the original. You have to hand it to the Scottish government: the deletion of WhatsApp messages is good preemptive news management, whether accidental, by default or deliberate.

This story is a classic example of a seemingly simple claim that does not have a straightforward answer. Mr Case replied in the early hours of Oct 25, explaining that it might not be “an issue” that this easing of the quarantine restrictions had been briefed to the papers, apparently by Downing Street. Perhaps we’ll have to wait for the public inquiry to rule on all that, although Hancock does concede those staff movements could in hindsight have been stopped earlier.

What ultimately stuck in my head however was an oddly poignant account of Hancock driving home through London in mid-February, as the government’s scientific advisers began secretly preparing options for a lockdown, past pubs full of people with no idea their lives were about to turn upside down. That he blames care staff for the crisis in care homes, that Tory peer Michelle Mone threatened him over Covid tests, and that Boris Johnson gave him “personal advice” on how to cope with his extramarital affair with Gina Coladangelo are among the bombshell claims in the book so far.

WhatsApp messages obtained by The Telegraph show that Mr Hancock asked his team about alternatives to the 14-day self-isolation period in August 2020, less than three months after Test and Trace was launched. Matt Hancock asks for forgiveness for breaking the rules, rather than seeking it for his handling of the pandemic. Early on in Hancock’s diaries, we learn that the UK Health Secretary’s first (and I quote) “oh shit” moment was on January 28, 2020, when he was told that the pandemic could lead to up to 820,000 UK deaths.Drawing on a wealth of never-before-seen material, including official records, his notes at the time and communications with all the key players in Britain’s Covid-19 story, this candid account reveals the inner workings of government during a time of national crisis, reflecting on both the successes and the failures.