Chapter 10 - How a Manipulated Covid Target Was Exposed

Summary

Instead of examining a particular individual, this chapter examines a particular episode that occurred during the early period of the Covid pandemic and involved Johnson’s minister of health, Matt Hancock. The minister set himself the target of achieving a hundred thousand Covid tests daily and he claimed to have succeeded. Critics suggested that he had used a measure that exaggerated the number of tests carried out. The UKSA was asked to comment whether Hancock’s claims were statistically and verbally justified. We look at the public correspondence between the UKSA’s chair and the minister. The UKSA’s chair starts by writing in a diplomatic manner, implying but not directly asserting that the number of tests may have been exaggerated. Hancock in his reply ignores the hints. So do most of the national newspapers. The UKSA’s chair in a second letter upped his rhetoric. This time the national press reported the letter and newspapers sided with the UKSA’s chair, ‘the national watchdog’, and directly accusing Hancock of misusing statistics. The minister backed down, but he still hid the statistics which would have shown whether he achieved his target. We can see that the UKSA is not powerless if it recruits the press but it cannot force ministers to apologise.