Sir Chris Whitty advised ministers not to enforce the sex ban during the pandemic, leaked WhatsApp messages revealed today.
Under the original Covid lockdown imposed on March 23 2020, Boris Johnson told Brits to stay at home and avoid contact with people living in other households.
The rules, in reality, amounted to a sex ban for all couples living separately because they were not allowed to meet up indoors.
Sir Chris, England’s chief medical officer, was asked to clarify the expert advice by the then-PM’s spokesman the next day after being inundated by journalists wanting answers to the ‘biggest Q of the day’.
Sir Chris Whitty (left) advised ministers not to enforce the sex ban during the pandemic, leaked WhatsApp messages revealed today. Yet a different message was presented at a press conference that same day, when Jenny Harries, Sir Chris’ deputy, said couples should ‘ideally’ should stay in their own households if they don’t live together — or ‘test the strength of their relationship’ and move in together. The then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock (right) added: ‘There you go: make your choice and stick with it’
Sir Chris, England’s chief medical officer, was asked to clarify the expert advice by the then-PM’s spokesman the next day after being inundated by journalists wanting answers to the ‘biggest Q of the day’. Texts unearthed today reveal Sir Chris said: ‘I think a bit of realism will be needed.’ He added: ‘If it’s a regular partner I don’t think people are likely to listen to advice not to see them for three weeks or maybe more. ‘We could say; if they can avoid seeing one another they should, and if either of them has an older or vulnerable person in the house they must’
Professor Neil Ferguson (left) asked his mistress Antonia Staats (right) to travel across London to his home at least twice during the peak of the outbreak, it was revealed at the beginning of May
The tranche of more than 100,000 WhatsApps were passed to The Daily Telegraph by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott (right), who was given the material by Matt Hancock (left) when they were working together on his book Pandemic Diaries
Texts unearthed today reveal Sir Chris said: ‘I think a bit of realism will be needed.’
He added: ‘If it’s a regular partner I don’t think people are likely to listen to advice not to see them for three weeks or maybe more.
‘We could say; if they can avoid seeing one another they should, and if either of them has an older or vulnerable person in the house they must.’
Patrick Vallance, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, had said: ‘[The] aim is to break contacts between households so the strict answer is that they shouldn’t meet or should bunker down in the same house.’
‘But Chris can give the official CMO love advice,’ he added.
Yet a different message was presented at a press conference that same day, when Jenny Harries, Sir Chris’ deputy, said couples should ‘ideally’ should stay in their own households if they don’t live together — or ‘test the strength of their relationship’ and move in together.
‘What we do not want is people switching in and out of households. It defeats the purpose of reductions in social interactions and will allow the transmission of disease,’ she said.
The then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock added: ‘There you go: make your choice and stick with it.’
The so-called ‘bonking ban’ lasted until June 13, at which point two separate households could form ‘bubbles’ — meaning they do not need to remain socially distanced.
It only applied if one household was someone living alone, or a single parent living with children.
In one of the most high-profile rule breaches of the pandemic, Professor Neil Fergusson, a SAGE scientist, had invited his married mistress Antonia Staats to his home at least twice in May 2020 when the rules were in place.
In a resignation statement, the academic, who was married with a son but is believed to have been separated from his wife at the time, admitted he had ‘made an error of judgement’ but claimed he thought he was ‘immune’ to the illness.
Professor Fergusson admitted his rule breach was the ‘wrong thing to do’.
MailOnline has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages, leaked to The Daily Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who helped Mr Hancock write his book Pandemic Diaries.
Other newly released messages show Mr Hancock was told by advisers that the public would ‘forgive’ him for being supportive of lockdowns if he could claim vaccines as his success, leading the MP to try to be the face of the campaign.
Mr Hancock’s media special adviser Damon Poole sent Mr Hancock a link to a Daily Mail article in January 2021 which reported that the jab rollout was accelerating.
The MP replied: ‘I CALLED FOR THIS TWO MONTHS AGO. This is a Hancock triumph!’
Exchanges on WhatsApp also reveal that Mr Hancock rejected advice from Sir Chris that Covid self-isolation should be slashed over concerns it would ‘imply we’ve been getting it wrong’.
Messages from November 2020 show England’s Chief Medical Officer thought it would be ‘pretty well as good’ for close contacts of positive cases to test for five days rather than staying at home for two weeks.
But the former health secretary warned the approach was a ‘massive loosening’ of the rules that would ‘seriously worry people’ and ‘imply we’d been getting it wrong’.
A spokesperson for Matt Hancock said: ‘These messages in fact show Mr Hancock was in favour of protecting the public and saving lives.
‘That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
‘Throughout the pandemic Mr Hancock acted to save lives — as the independent inquiry will show.
‘We should wait for that to ensure we get a proper understanding of what happened, not be misled by these biased accounts based on an anti-lockdown agenda and partial evidence.’
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