The ex-health secretary said: “Joe Anderson – unfortunately, no longer with us – he was incredibly supportive.
“And we ended up in Liverpool having a package of measures that was effective after a very constructive negotiation.”
Mr Anderson, who was the city’s mayor from 2012 until December 2021, responded on social media: “Just took my pulse and I seem to still be here and I feel ok.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A former mayor of Liverpool has been forced to announce he is still alive after Matt Hancock told the Covid inquiry he had died.
Mr Anderson, who was the city’s mayor from 2012 until December 2021, responded on social media: “Just took my pulse and I seem to still be here and I feel ok.”
Mr Hancock had been telling the inquiry about how he worked with the then-mayor over the coronavirus lockdown tier system.
He acknowledged his affair with top aide Gina Coladangelo during the pandemic damaged public confidence in complying with Covid rules.
He also suggested then-chancellor Rishi Sunak would have put “enormous pressure” on Boris Johnson not to have a second lockdown.
Mr Hancock has been forced to deny being a liar – a charge levelled at him at various stages of the inquiry.
The original article contains 246 words, the summary contains 137 words. Saved 44%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!