WhatsApp leaks: Hancock backed pressuring MP into voting for lockdown

Leaked messages suggest that the former health secretary Matt Hancock supported the idea of using funding for a disability centre in a Tory MP’s constituency as leverage to persuade him to vote for the Covid tier system in England. 

The messages, sent on WhatsApp, show that Hancock agreed to put pressure on James Daly, the Conservative MP for Bury North if he failed to vote with the government. However, Hancock’s spokesperson denied the accusations, stating that it never happened.

Daly expressed his disappointment with the exchange and stated that the threat was not carried out. He also said that using potential funding for vulnerable people to secure votes for the government was unacceptable. 

Asked how he would have responded if such a conversation had taken place, the MP said: “I would have told him where to go, and reported matters to a higher authority.

“To think somebody would use potential funding that could help someone vulnerable in our community to get votes for the government is just not acceptable.”

James Daly MP

Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages leak

The messages were leaked to the Daily Telegraph and suggested that Hancock’s political aide Allan Nixon proposed warning MPs whose “re-election hinges” on central government funding, that the funding would be off the table if they voted against new plans for stricter tiered lockdown. 

Mr Nixon proposed warning Mr Daly that funding for a new centre for disabled children and adults in his constituency would be “off the table” if he voted against the lockdown plans. 

Hancock replied, “Yes 100%.” 

MPs eventually backed the government’s plans for the tier system despite a large rebellion by Tory MPs, including Daly. 

Sir Jake Berry, the former Conservative Party chairman, accused Hancock of weaponising the provision of care to young disabled people and stated that he had been “drunk on power.”