Matt Hancock is facing calls to apologise to a Labour MP who has been working on the NHS frontline after telling her to watch her “tone” when she questioned him about coronavirus.
The health secretary’s comment came after Rosena Allin-Khan told him during a House of Commons debate that the government’s failings on testing had condemned many families to being “unnecessarily torn apart in grief” and urged him to commit to conducting 100,000 tests daily.
It sparked outrage among opposition MPs including former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, who branded the health secretary’s words ”creepy” and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who said: “Matt Hancock’s tone should change, not Rosena’s. Looks like the truth hurt the Secretary of State.”
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Dr Allin-Khan herself wrote on Twitter: “I will not ‘watch my tone’ when dozens of NHS and care staff are dying unnecessarily. Families are being torn apart.”
The pair clashed after Dr Allin-Khan told the Commons the government’s testing strategy was “non-existent”: “Community testing was scrapped, mass testing was slow to roll out and testing figures are now being manipulated.”
She asked: “Does the secretary of state commit to a minimum of 100,000 tests each day going forward? And does the secretary of state acknowledge that many frontline workers feel that the government’s lack of testing has cost lives and is responsible for many families being unnecessarily torn apart in grief?”
Mr Hancock, who was in the Commons to answer an urgent question from Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, responded: ”I welcome the Honourable Lady to her post as part of the shadow health team. I think she might do well to take a leaf out of the shadow secretary’s book in terms of tone.”
He added: “I’m afraid what she said is not true. There’s been a rapid acceleration of testing offer the last few months in this country, including getting to 100,000 tests a day.”
Despite the government’s claim to have fulfilled its pledge of 100,000 tests by the end of April by recording more than 122,000 last Thursday, critics say the figure was reached by including 40,000 test kits which had been sent out but not completed by that date.
The health secretary told MPs that the current testing capacity stands at 108,000 and said the figure would continue to rise.
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“Of course, we’ve been working very hard to make the testing capacity grow as fast as possible and as more tests are available so we are able to make them available to more people and test people right across the NHS,” he added.
There was no immediate response to Mr Hancock’s comments in the Commons chamber, which was nearly empty as MPs followed social distancing rules by taking part virtually.
But several took to Twitter to protest over his words.
Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said it was “no way for the Health Secretary to speak to a serving A&E doctor,” adding that Mr Hancock should apologise for “telling Dr Rosena to ‘watch her tone’ after asking a perfectly factual question.”
Ms Harman said: “Something creepy about a man telling a woman to watch her tone! Worse that he recommends she adopts the tone of another man. I suggest Matt Hancock changes his.”
And former shadow cabinet member Diane Abbott told Allin-Khan: “I was watching Health Questions. Absolutely nothing wrong with your tone. It reflects and reverberates with the reality of what yourself and other NHS workers are experiencing. Hancock very unwise to be so dismissive.”
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Munira Wilson said: “Firstly, Dr Rosena’s tone was measured. Secondly, an A&E doctor asking about deaths on the front line is absolutely right. Thirdly, the closing down of any legitimate questions by this government when we are in the midst of a national emergency is sinister and unacceptable.”
And former Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips tweeted: “Her tone was fine, respectful, and might I dare say her view is more knowledgeable about the front line than the Health Secretary. Can’t imagine why he doesn’t like her ‘tone’. (obviously I can well imagine).”
