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Matt Hancock has snapped at England's NHS chief executive during the pandemic, even saying his ouster would be a "huge improvement", according to the latest set of leaked WhatsApp messages. The Telegraph reports that the private messages appear to show that Simon Stevens, now Lord Stevens, was belittled behind the scenes and that Hancock, then health secretary, and Dominic Cummings, then a senior adviser to Boris Johnson, wanted to get rid of him for at least 18 years. months before retiring in July 2021. Some six months into the pandemic, Hancock wrote that "the removal of the SS (Simon Stevens) will be a huge improvement," according to the newspaper.
It also says Hancock sent a message to Cummings saying he was approaching prominent surgery professor Lord Ara Darzi to "persuade" Lord Stevens to resign.
Further contact with Mr Cummings was made on 3 February, days after the first two cases of Covid were detected in the UK.
A meeting in Downing Street in April 2020 had Hancock's special adviser Allan Nixon comment on how bad he looked.
He wrote on WhatsApp: "You seem to be losing your balance against number 10 treating Simon this way.
"Simon needs a kick, but don't make yourself look bad in the process."
Mr. Hancock responded, "Okay, you need to know that you're so screwed up."
"And I'll tell the room what happened after the video goes out."
Nixon responded, "Okay, but keep in mind that from a distance it looks like you're collapsing under the pressure."
Lord Stevens, who has spoken on a variety of issues including NHS funding, has been made a Life Peer in recognition of his service to the NHS.
The newspaper says there are messages between Hancock and Lord Stevens, in which they discuss whether the NHS chief should have made an announcement about the reopening of dental practices, as this could have been included in a televised press conference.
In the leaked messages, Mr Hancock describes Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) member Sir Jeremy Farrar as "worse than useless" and asks his permanent secretary: "Can we fire him?"
Sir Jeremy is also described as 'totally out of his depth' and a 'complete loudmouth', the newspaper reports.
When Sir Jeremy left Sage, he indicated that he would be stepping down to concentrate on his work at the Wellcome Trust health research foundation.
In December, the World Health Organization named him its new chief scientist.
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