NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens stays tight-lipped when asked whether Matt Hancock is ‘hopeless’
NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens has failed to confirm he has confidence in Matt Hancock.
Asked repeatedly if, having worked alongside the health secretary during the pandemic, he has confidence in his ability, Sir Simon refused to give Mr Hancock his support.
Pressed on whether the health secretary is hopeless, the NHS boss smirks after an awkward pause and fails to answer.
“I mean, that is a political question,” he added.
Matt Hancock has said he does not think he is hopeless
It comes a day after Dominic Cummings published expletive-laden WhatsApp messages, allegedly from Boris Johnson, in which the PM appears to call Mr Hancock “hopeless”.
The PM’s former senior aide published the messages as part of a 7,000-word blogpost which appears to include a series of claims about Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock, including that the prime minister considered removing responsibility for PPE from the health secretary.
In one exchange, which Mr Cummings said was part of late-night messages on 26 March 2020, he and Mr Johnson appear to be discussing actions from “MH” in boosting the UK’s COVID testing capacity.
The screenshot shows a reply from the prime minister stating: “Totally f****** hopeless”.
On Wednesday, Dominic Cummings published messages allegedly from the PM
At a lobby briefing on Wednesday, Downing Street did not deny the messages were authentic, but assured journalists that the PM has full confidence in the health secretary.
“I am not planning to engage with every allegation put forward, the prime minister has worked very closely with the health secretary throughout and will continue to do so,” the spokesman said.
Asked if there were security concerns about Mr Cummings’s disclosure of messages, the spokesman added: “I don’t plan to get into individual cases, there are rules published for former advisers to observe.”
As he left the Department of Health for the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Hancock was asked if he believed himself to be “hopeless”.
“I don’t think so,” he replied.
Pressed again on the matter on Thursday, the health secretary said: “I’m not going to get in to that.”
But when the text messages were put to Sir Simon on Thursday, he could not say that he had full faith in the health secretary.
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‘Are you hopeless Mr Hancock?’
Sir Simon is due to step down as head of NHS England at the end of July after having overseen the COVID vaccination rollout to adults.
The PM has previously praised Sir Simon for leading the NHS with “great distinction” and he is due to become a peer in the House of Lords following his departure.
But there has not always been such an amicable relationship between Sir Simon and Mr Johnson, who attended Oxford University together, with tensions occurring between ministers and top health officials throughout the pandemic.
There were concerns earlier in the year that the NHS would not be able to successfully roll out the vaccination programme.
But those sceptical have since been proven wrong, with Mr Hancock announcing on Thursday that all over 18s will be able to take up the offer of a jab.
Possible successors to Sir Simon include Conservative peer and former head of the government’s Test and Trace programme Baroness Dido Harding.
Baroness Harding, who is the wife of Tory MP John Penrose, formally entered the running to become the top boss of England’s healthcare system on Thursday.
A growing rift has emerged in Washington, D.C., between the cryptocurrency industry and labor unions as lawmakers debate whether to ease rules allowing cryptocurrencies in 401(k) retirement accounts.
The dispute centers on proposed market structure legislation that would allow retirement accounts to gain exposure to crypto, a move labor groups say could expose workers to speculative risk. In a letter sent on Wednesday to the US Senate Banking Committee, the American Federation of Teachers argued that cryptocurrencies are too volatile for pension and retirement savings, warning that workers could face significant losses.
The letter drew immediate pushback from crypto investors and industry figures. “The American Federation of Teachers has somehow developed the most logically incoherent, least educated take one could possibly author on the matter of crypto market structure regulation,” a crypto investor said on X.
In response to the letter, Castle Island Ventures partner Sean Judge said the bill would improve oversight and reduce systemic risk, while enabling pension funds to access an asset class that has delivered strong long-term returns.
Consensys attorney Bill Hughes said the AFT’s opposition to the crypto market structure bill was politically motivated, accusing the group of acting as an extension of Democratic lawmakers.
Related: Atkins says SEC has ‘enough authority’ to drive crypto rules forward in 2026
Opposition to crypto in retirement and pension funds mounts
Proponents of allowing crypto in retirement portfolios, on the other hand, argue that it democratizes finance, while trade unions have voiced strong opposition to relaxing current regulations, claiming that crypto is too risky for traditional retirement plans.
“Unregulated, risky currencies and investments are not where we should put pensions and retirement savings. The wild, wild west is not what we need, whether it’s crypto, AI, or social media,” AFT president Randi Weingarten said on Thursday.
The AFT represents 1.8 million teachers and educational professionals in the US and is one of the largest teachers’ unions in the country.
According to Better Markets, a nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy organization, cryptocurrencies are too volatile for traditional retirement portfolios, and their high volatility can create time-horizon mismatches for pension investors seeking a predictable, low-volatility retirement plan.
In October, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) also wrote to Congress opposing provisions within the crypto market structure regulatory bill.
The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of trade unions in the US, wrote that cryptocurrencies are volatile and pose a systemic risk to pension funds and the broader financial system.
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