From foul-mouthed rants about colleagues to ‘appalling neglect’ of vulnerable people, those close to Boris Johnson revealed workings of government at height of pandemic

Cummings frequently called for the sacking of Matt Hancock and other cabinet ministers

In May 2020, he warned Johnson about the health secretary: “Hancock is unfit for this job. The incompetence, the constant lies, the obsession with media bullshit over doing his job. Still no fucking serious testing in care homes his uselessness is still killing God knows how many.” By August 2020 Cummings told Johnson he was creating the perception that he was “happy to have useless fuckpigs in charge”. He claimed Hancock was a “proven liar”.