Matt Hancock has revealed that he had to fight the urge to tell Donald Trump to take his own advice and ‘drink bleach’ when the then-US leader contracted Covid-19.
Disclosing his secret disdain for Mr Trump in his new book, the former health secretary branded the ex-president an ‘awful, awful man’ and a ‘plonker’ over his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
The Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle Against Covid – which is serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday – is littered with stinging swipes at Mr Trump and his wild Covid claims.
In one astonishing admission, Mr Hancock revealed he detested Mr Trump so much that he burst into tears of joy when his presidency – and what he described as ‘Trump madness’ – came to an end.
Matt Hancock has revealed that he had to fight the urge to tell Donald Trump to take his own advice and ‘drink bleach’ when the then-US leader contracted Covid-19
In the first of the extracts exclusively published today, Mr Hancock criticised Mr Trump for making unfounded claims about the benefits of using a malaria drug to fight Covid.
Under an entry on April 4, 2020, the despairing former health minister wrote: ‘President Trump has randomly and dangerously declared that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for Covid, despite a total absence of the evidence. What an awful, awful man.’
A few weeks later, Mr Trump infamously caused widespread outrage with bizarre claims that sunlight or injecting bleach could be used to treat people suffering from the virus.
The shocking suggestions were slammed as dangerous by health officials and quickly came to symbolize the chaotic nature of the Trump presidency and his handling of the pandemic.
Mr Hancock said: ‘A small part of me found it funny – this is the President of the United States. The leader of the free world. A much bigger part of me was horrified.
‘You’d like to think nobody would take these wild suggestions seriously, but around the world doctors are now genuinely having to warn people not to attempt to treat themselves with Cillit Bang.’
In a later extract, due to be published in the Mail next week, Mr Hancock wrote that after months of playing the global pandemic down, Mr Trump – along with his wife – contracted the virus.
Disclosing his secret disdain for Mr Trump in his new book, the former health secretary branded the ex-president an ‘awful, awful man’ and a ‘plonker’ over his handling of the coronavirus crisis
Mr Hancock writes under an entry from October 2, 2020, saying: ‘Donald and Melania Trump have got Covid.
‘Tempting as it was to take to social media and suggest Trump try treating himself with a blast of UV light or by drinking bleach, I left it.’
The following month the former health secretary revealed he was ‘desperate’ for Joe Biden to win the presidential elections.
When Mr Biden was finally elected the 46th president after days of painstaking vote counting, Mr Hancock said he cried with relief before ‘celebrating’ with a cup of tea.
‘Biden has done it! I heard the news as I turned the radio on in the kitchen, before the rest of the family had got up,’ he said in the book.
‘I lay on the sofa and somewhat to my own surprise, I burst into tears of relief. Finally an end to the Trump madness. He has been such a disaster for the western values I hold so dear.
‘After a couple of minutes, I pulled myself to together and put the kettle on: a very British celebration.’