"I feel that people maybe hope that there might be some kind of gigantic conspiracy," he says. "What was going on was the very exaggerated everyday business of government, which is full of cock up and far more cock up than conspiracy." He also reveals details of messages from Matt Hancock between him and his political aid in which they discussed deploying a variant to 'frighten the pants off people' The former Tory minister has been accused of being part of an elaborate cover-up by senior members of David Cameron's cabinet.