U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson branded Health Secretary Matt Hancock “hopeless” in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, according to WhatsApp messages released by Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings.

In his blog on Wednesday, Cummings published a series of screenshots that he said showed exchanges with Johnson in March 2020 about Hancock’s handling of the pandemic.

On March 3, Cummings pointed to how the U.S. had ramped up testing and criticized Hancock’s approach. “Totally f****** hopeless,” Johnson replied, according to the former aide’s documents.

In an exchange of messages three weeks later, Cummings said government officials had been turning down ventilator offers because the “price has been marked up”. Johnson’s replied: “It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless.”

Hancock’s office and 10 Downing Street did not immediately respond to requests to comment.

Cummings, who had a front-row seat for much of the pandemic decision-making before leaving government late last year, told a parliamentary committee last month that Hancock was “disastrously incompetent” and should have been fired for “15 to 20 things.”

U.K.’s Hancock Defends Covid Response, Hits Back at Cummings (1)

Though the rapid rollout of vaccines this year has shifted the narrative in British politics, ministers faced intense criticism early in the pandemic -- including over the delay in ordering the first lockdown and the lack of testing available to control the spread of infections.

Hancock told members of Parliament this month he acted with “honesty and integrity” throughout the crisis, and denied Cummings’s claims that he lied to Johnson about testing patients who were being moved into care homes.

In a message on April 27, Johnson also apparently said the government’s approach to protective equipment for health workers had been a “disaster” and suggested replacing Hancock with Cabinet office minister Michael Gove.