Hancock’s department ‘warned No 10’ not to publicise PPE shipment

Exclusive: Department of Health ‘strongly advised’ Robert Jenrick not to make promise but was overruled, sources say

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Downing Street ignored a firm warning from Matt Hancock’s Department of Health that ministers should not publicise the expected shipment of protective kit for NHS staff from Turkey in case it backfired, a senior departmental source has told the Guardian.

In a sign of deepening tensions between the Department of Health and Downing Street, the source said that Hancock’s Cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick was “strongly advised” not to mention the consignment at the government’s coronavirus media briefing last Saturday.

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