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Rose Hill

Carol Vorderman fumes at claims she 'cosied up' to Matt Hancock after slamming MP

Carol Vorderman issued a not-so-subtle dig at Matt Hancock as she was left fuming at claims they cosied up together at Cheltenham.

The Pride of Britain legend, 62, had attended the races on Tuesday alongside a whole host of famous faces in the VIP area and appeared to be in great spirits as she enjoyed a laugh with Gareth Gates.

Cinched in at the waist with an underbust corset and leather skirt, Carol stole the show on Tuesday as she donned a pair of aviator shades and warded away the chill with a fur stole.

The former Countdown host was also spotted having a chat with MP Matt Hancock and while she has conceded that she somewhat reluctantly chatted to the disgraced politician, Carol is vehemently denying that they "cosied up" together.

Taking to Twitter in the evening after the day out, a pyjamaed Carol said: "We've had a great day and we've just looked online and there's a whole blooming thing in the Daily Mail - talk about a set-up - about how I've been cosying up to Matt Han cock at the races! OK, I'm going to tell you what happened.

Carol Vorderman slammed claims that she was cosying up to Matt Hancock (Twitter)
She had been attending the races alongside a friend (Twitter)

"I'm always a guest at the Jockey Club - I'm at the Cheltenham Races all the time, I go to a lot of meetings there, I go to a lot of racing. I have shares in a horse with the chairman of Cheltenham Races, it's one of my things.

"So, Michael Dickinson, who is a genius trainer of all time, is a dear friend of mine along with Brendan Foster. We were having lunch, we go to parading - it's a long story, this - and we always go up to the royal box at some point to watch a race.

"We all go up, we're having tea - I was chaufeur because I wasn't drinking - and sandwiches and all that kind of thing. It was Michael, Brendan, some other people from ITV Sport. I love the races, so my friend Jules and I go, 'We're just going out early onto the terrace to watch Honeysuckle.'

"We go out onto the terrace to watch Honeysuckle and the others canting down to the start, which is just glorious and the crowds are like 70,000 people! Jules and I, almost alone on the terrace outside - it's such a set-up - we're there, maybe three other people. It's a big terrace.

"We're looking out at the course... tap on the shoulder - 'Hello, my name's Gina.' And then I turn around and it's Matt Hancock - 'Hello, my name's Matt.' I went, 'Hello, I'm Carol, this is my friend Jules.' What are you meant to do? You're in the royal box. You can't call them a... in the royal box, can you?

She claimed to have only had a brief conversation with Hancock (PA)

"So I said, 'Oh Matt, are you into racing?' And they said, not particularly but Matt is, she said, because his constituency is in Newmarket and he's even ridden in a race."

Making a face, Carol continued: "Which I thought, oh I didn't know that. So I said, 'Oh, that's interesting because we were at Sandown last week, weren't we Jules?' Where there were amateur jockeys, bla. And I said, 'That's really interesting, we want to watch the race.'

"Then we turn round to watch the course and then he said, 'Oh by the way, thank you.' So I turn around again to be civil. 'By the way, thank you for everything you do with your son about enlightening people about dyslexia. I am dyslexic. La la la.'

"So I said, 'It's very important to me as a mother of a child who had special educational needs that people are aware that you can become very successful in spite of the early studies. It takes them longer for them to get to where they need to be, that's all. They're not incapable, it just takes people longer.'

"And at that point I said, 'By the way, I really want to watch this race.' Turned round and watched the race. Jules and I never spoke abother word again! That's it! Talk about a bloody set-up!"

She added that she was "brought up to be polite" and that's why she responded to the couple in the first place.

Carol said that she was only being polite in talking to him (PA)

It comes after Carol made her views clear on the ex-health secretary on social media after seeing a clip of him on I'm A Celeb last year.

Taking to Twitter ahead of his arrival in November, Carol shared a video of herself in the back of a taxi.

She said to her followers: "Well I'm on my way into the This Morning studio again to talk about Boy George with Boy George's manager and to talk about the arrival about Seann Walsh and Matt Hancock."

Carol joked: "Apparently, to say his name properly the 'Han' is silent. Who knew?"

She also captioned her tweet: "Practising saying Matt Hancock correctly.... apparently the Han in Han-Cock is silent."

After watching him on the show, he gained a few fans which disgusted Carol.

A few TikTok accounts were made dedicated to him, such as "hotmatthancock", "welovematthancock" and "matthancockisafittie" – to name a few.

Carol was shown an account named "Matt Hancock Daddy", which referred to him as "Our favourite jungle boy".

"There's a little bit of sick in my throat when I think about that," she said on This Morning, before adding: "Nope, can we move on, I mean, each to their own but no."

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