With Hancock’s jungle adventure starting on Sunday, some may welcome a reminder of the man who led Britain’s response to Covid as health secretary until he was forced to resign over a workplace case which breached his own Covid rules . Here are 10 notable moments in his career.
1 Matt Hancock the app
The first disgraced health minister of the pandemic era to offer to eat testicles on TV has always been a trailblazer. Take his decision in 2018 to launch his own mobile app, tentatively titled ‘Matt Hancock MP’ and designed, he said in a cheery introductory video, to let Android and iOS users “find out what’s going on and my role as a Member of Parliament and as Secretary of Culture… to tell me what you think and to engage with others on issues that matter to you.” However, users may not have intended to give “Matt Hancock MP” automatic access to their photo libraries, as an early glitch appeared to allow. Meanwhile, close observers noted that a quiet update during the Covid pandemic removed the feature that allowed users to “have your say” after the app became what the Telegraph called “a haven for lewd pranksters”. While MP Matt Hancock the man may be temporarily out of action, his eponymous app is still going strong – although it doesn’t specifically say where he is.
2 Parkour
Politicians don’t have to be stuffy and boring – some can climb over a low wall too. That was the message of a video released by the Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport in 2018, showing Hancock, dressed in head-to-toe stealth black, engaging in a brief bout of street sport parkour, alongside Sébastien Foucan, one of its pioneers. “I’ve seen it on Youtube and it’s amazing, but you never think you can get involved, because I can’t do those kinds of twists,” he told the camera. “But it’s great fun and good exercise and you learn about your body and the environment you live in.”
3 Tory leadership
Just think what could have been. In 2019, when the prime ministership of the last but two Tory leaders went down in flames (Theresa May, he went on), Hancock was nominated for the party leadership, presenting himself as the staunch pro-business one in contrast to rival Boris Johnson. Or as he told the Financial Times: “To people who say ‘fuck the jobs’, I say ‘fuck the business.’ He also took a bold and principled stance on arguments that Brexit could only be achieved by proroguing parliament, saying that doing so would “[go] against all that those men who went to those beaches fought and died for, and I will not have it.’ He later dropped out of the leadership race after the first round, in which he received 20 votes. Strangely, though, he didn’t resign his cabinet post when Johnson did move to prorogue parliament two months later, saying he “didn’t feel” the same way.
4 Catching Covid
Britain’s coronavirus lockdown was four days old when Hancock, along with Johnson and chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty, all came down with the virus. Johnson was treated and eventually admitted to intensive care. Hancock developed “very mild symptoms” and was forced into self-isolation, “but I will continue to do everything I can to get our carers the support they need, I will do it from here, but with no less fervor.” The following week he returned to the Department of Health announcing a target of 100,000 Covid tests a day by the end of April 2020. On May 1, he said it had been reached, despite admitting the figures included 39,000 tests that had been sent but not processed.
5 Managing Covid
Hancock’s actions during the pandemic will be fully scrutinized at the forthcoming public inquiry into Covid, but Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s ousted senior aide, made a first attempt when he addressed MPs last year. The health secretary – still in his position then – should have been sacked “pretty much every day”, Cummings said, for “criminal” behaviour, because he “lied to everyone multiple times”, for setting the “stupid” target of 100,000 test. a day and because he was one of several government officials who performed “very, very disastrously below the standards the country expects.” Johnson’s spokesman said at the time that he retained “full confidence” in Hancock, although a month later Cummings released texts from his former boss in which Johnson called Hancock “absolutely hopeless.” Hancock did not immediately respond at the time, but it is possible that his upcoming memoir will differ from both reports. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
6 The pub owner
In November 2020, the Guardian revealed that Alex Bourne, former owner of Hancock’s constituency Cock Inn, had won a contract to supply NHS testing equipment after sending the then health secretary a private WhatsApp message. Bourne, whose business had previously manufactured takeaway cartons, and Hancock insisted it had gone through the proper channels.
7 Tighten up with a colleague
Social distancing regulations were necessary to keep the nation safe from Covid, Hancock repeatedly stressed during the pandemic. But damn, you can’t fight love. And so it was in May 2021 when, at a time when intimate contact outside the immediate household was not permitted, an office CCTV captured the married Hancock’s bald spot and his passionate lovemaking with an old girlfriend he had assigned to his office, Gina. Coladangelo. Despite previously describing the sex-ruining lockdown as a ‘police issue’, the man (inevitably) dubbed ‘Matt Handjob’ insisted he wouldn’t quit, until he finally did, realizing he ‘needed to be with my children.”
8 Lido-gate
Hancock and former chancellor Robert Buckland were apparently taking an innocent stroll through Hyde Park in January this year when they spontaneously decided to strip down to their trousers for a swim at the Serpentine Lido in view of a conveniently located Evening Standard photographer. The wide coverage of his post-ministerial mind thus secured, Hancock emerged after a brief 20m swim only to earn himself a sharp reprimand from the Serpentine Swimming Club, insisting that its pool is open to members only .
9 Handshake
Rishi Sunak is a man of “good judgment,” Hancock wrote in July, explaining why he supported him as leader the last time the job was available. Interestingly, then, Sunnock very vehemently refused to shake his former cabinet colleague’s hand while being applauded by Tory MPs after he was (finally) elected, despite the fact that Hancock appeared to be meandering directly in the eye of the new prime minister. Maybe Hancock had forgotten his hand sanitizer.
10 Life after death
Life after the ignominious resignation was largely uneventful for Hancock, with the end of his marriage, the odd interview, a paintball spot and repeated appearances in his favorite jeans and polo neck attire. His decision to join I’m a Celebrity was only made last week, he told the Sun, and only because “the government is firm”. “And no, it wasn’t the check” – or, possibly, because he publishes his Pandemic Diaries in early December. Consider, however, the producers of Channel 4’s SAS Who Dares Wins, who have reportedly already filmed the upcoming series in which Hancock was supposed to be the star signing. “Everyone is very angry,” a source told the Sun.
