Former health secretary Matt Hancock has revealed a text message he sent to Boris Johnson after Liz Truss resigned as prime minister. Last month, Ms Truss resigned as PM after just 45 days in the office.
Her predecessor Mr Johnson left a holiday in the Caribbean and headed back to the UK as he was tipped to make an extraordinary comeback. He later announced that he would not be standing for the Tory leadership, saying that despite having the support of the MPs required to run, he had come to the conclusion "this would simply not be the right thing to do" as “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament."
After Mr Johnson stepped down as a contender, Rishi Sunak was appointed Prime Minister. Mr Hancock, who arrived last week as a controversial latecomer on this year’s I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, was asked about the situation by his fellow campmates on the ITV reality show - and he revealed that he thinks Ms Truss' political career is 'over.'
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A Place In The Sun star Scarlette Douglas asked during Tuesday night's episode: “I wonder if Rishi’s still in power?" And Matt responded: “Yeah, he will be.” Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver asked: “What do you think went wrong Matt?”
Matt queried: “With Liz?” And he replied: "In a way, they were unlucky, in that globally interest rates all went up, just at the time that they were also… bringing in a financial statement where you say, ‘We’re going to do all these expensive things and we’re not going to say how we’re going to pay for them.'"
Sue asked: “Where does that leave her now?” Matt said: “Her political career is over. No ambiguity at all.” Charlene asked him: “Why do you think Tory Party members went for the less experienced ...” Matt said: “I think that’s all about how Boris got kicked out. It was all about people seeing Rishi as wielding the knife against Boris.”
Charlene continued: “So they decided to, one could argue, punish the entire country, by putting someone in place who was less experienced?” Matt said: “That implies a malign motive, which isn’t fair. But they definitely put the disloyalty to Boris as a negative, as a bigger factor than...”
Seann asked: “Were you a Boris ‘die-hard’?” And Matt replied: “Look, I was very supportive of him, but it was time. When it was time to go, it was time to go.”
Charlene asked: “When he flew back from his holiday in the Caribbean, what was your first thought?” Matt said: “I texted him and I said, ‘You know I think you’re wonderful but it’s not your time. The best thing for the country is that you should back Rishi and that we should get him in post as soon as possible.’”
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