Matt Hancock isn’t a ‘celebrity’. He’s the disgraced ex-Health Secretary who oversaw a pandemic response that led to one of the world’s highest Covid death tolls while breaking his own lockdown rules.
He claims to be serving as an MP but is swanning off to the Australian jungle to line his own pockets in a deal reported to be worth around £400,000.
His constituents are livid. Even his local Tory association is up in arms.
Now he is facing questions from the anti-corruption watchdog over why he agreed to join I’m a Celebrity without permission. The viewing public will have their say on Hancock, but it’s his own voters who will ultimately give him the most stinging verdict.
Hancock and the Tory party have plunged this country into chaos.
He should be in Westminster taking responsibility and cleaning up the mess he helped create.
It shows contempt for his constituents and for the public inquiry into the UK’s Covid response that he has done anything otherwise.
As Health Secretary, Hancock claimed he threw a “protective ring” around care homes while the pandemic raged. But that claim has now been exposed for what it was.
Earlier this year the High Court ruled the Government acted unlawfully by discharging untested hospital patients into care homes during the early stages of Covid-19.
Thousands died in care homes in that first wave, leaving families devastated and care home staff overwhelmed. Having been a care worker myself, I know the sacrifices people on the front line make and how badly they have been let down by the Tories.
Meanwhile, NHS staff were unprotected on the front line, many with insufficient or no protective equipment, and the Government broke the law by using a ‘VIP lane’ to award contracts to their cronies.
Hancock has failed to explain the involvement of the former landlord of his local pub in a multi-million pound coronavirus public contract, after leaked WhatsApp exchanges between the pair emerged. There are unanswered questions over how a former neighbour was subsequently awarded work supplying the Government with tens of millions of vials for NHS Covid-19 tests despite apparently having no previous experience of producing medical supplies.
It’s little wonder that Hancock now wants to dodge scrutiny by escaping to the jungle.
The fact that he is now cashing in on his terrible legacy, rather than giving families the answers they need and the justice they crave, tells you a lot about him. He’s used to talking balls so he’s unlikely to have a problem eating them when he’s in the outback – but the real scandal is that he’s yet to be held to account for his actions and their devastating consequences.
So it’s not the cockroach milkshake, the raw fish eyes or even the kangaroo anus that’s the most distasteful part.
Seeing him profit as bereaved families wait for answers leaves the most sickening taste in the mouth of all.
