Matt Hancock’s career: from health secretary to public embarrassment
It’s been pretty much the last few eventual days in the world of politics. Well, British politics as you would call it. Not everything is as big as being a massive cock-up in public office that when you’re caught kissing your aide in May when we weren’t allowed to hug, and a month later it becomes front-page news and pressure to resign and/or be sacked — you finally did it.
That person is Matt Hancock — the now-former Secretary of State for Health & Social Care (or known as Health Secretary). He resigned just a day after The Sun newspaper exposed him (on Friday 25th June) for having an affair (he breached Covid guidelines) with one of his aides — Gina Coladangelo (who left her position in the Department for Health the same day as Hancock resigned from Health Secretary).
Boris Johnson was quick to defend Hancock for any wrongdoing (but didn’t sack him or force him to resign) and said “the matter is closed”. If I had an affair with one of my colleagues and cheated on my future girlfriend/wife/fiancee and it becomes such a big thing to happen in my life — then sure as hell this matter would be closed. I also predict the matters of 150,000 people dying from Covid, Dido Harding potentially becoming CEO of NHS England, Test and Trace being wasted on billions and the PPE scandal would also be closed too.
In his resignation video posted on social media, Hancock said “I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made, that you have made, and those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that’s why I have got to resign.” That’s basically a sign of knowing how badly you failed but you just didn’t wanna realise it — until now. Someone cue me a video of Matt Hancock crying on Good Morning Britain in December 2020 when the first vaccine in the UK was administered.
The BBC News report from last night (Saturday 26th June) on Matt Hancock’s resignation and Sajid Javid’s arrival as health secretary included the warning that it “contains flashing images”. One of the people noticing it was comedian and actor Tiff Stevenson.
The memes keep on coming in — including sketches. Munya Chawawa listened to the people and delivered — he used Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me to accompany the sketch.
Even I made a couple of Matt Hancock-related jokes on Twitter. A simple way of being funny, like this one when Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis said Hancock “put his family first” by resigning.
Actor James McNicholas thought Hancock resigned so that the new series of reality show Love Island can start, so he tweeted this:
I mean, no chance of Hancock and Coladangelo going in the villa in Mallorca, ain’t it? (They’re not really going in, watch Love Island to find out, on ITV2 Monday 28th June)
Hancock not only resigned from being Health Secretary, but he also resigned from his marriage to his wife of 15 years — Martha Hancock and their children so he could spend more time with Coladangelo. Coincidence? I need to start listening to Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats. Again. (That banger was from 2007 before you @ me btw)
