LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office declined on Wednesday to engage with every allegation made by his former senior advisor Dominic Cummings, saying the British leader was focused on the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, Cummings reignited a row with health minister Matt Hancock, publishing what he said was an exchange with the British prime minister who branded the COVID-19 testing programme totally “hopeless”.

Asked whether the published message was authentic or not, Johnson’s spokesman said he would not get into the detail of what has been published.

“I don’t plan to engage with every allegation made. The prime minister has set out that we will hold a public inquiry next year, the health secretary has given hours of evidence to the parliamentary committee and I have taken a number of questions on this issue previously,” he told reporters.

“Our focus is on recovering from the pandemic, moving through the road map, distributing vaccines and delivering on the public’s priorities,” he said, adding he had not asked the prime minister directly about the new allegations.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Sarah Young)