Coronavirus update - NO MORE RESTRICTIONS

[Hilts]

I agree, Ministers were much more willing to take responsibility for things going wrong in their department when I was younger, but I doubt it very much if there has ever been a time when a Minister caught having an affair automatically resigned.

No but this is the Health Secretary after numerous feck ups all over his aide in a pandemic when thousands of others dont hug those close to them.

After all hes preached.

[surge]

Government guidance advising against close physical contact with people not in your household was not lifted until May 17th. Pictures of Matt Hancock are from earlier that month. On May 16th, before the restrictions were lifted, Mr Hancock said this (pics of quotes inserted within twitter thread)

At a different point in the pandemic in September 2020 Mr Hancock said that people should be sticking to “established relationships”. Many millions of single people have been struggled throughout as a result of feeling they shouldn’t be mixing with other households.

In May 2020 Mr Hancock said of Professor Neil Ferguson’s affair and rule breaking (which led him to resign from Sage): “It’s extraordinary. I don’t understand...I think the social distancing rules are very important and people should follow them.”

Hancock has not been slow to judge others for what he saw as poor adherence to the rules in other matters. When ministers changed the tiers before Christmas Hancock lambasted people for being “totally irresponsible” for travelling before the rules changed.

https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/st...65841712926722

If Hancock were to stay it would say something quite big about political landscape currently. If Hancock goes we might start asking who leaked it to the S*n and why now?

I still think hiring this aide seemingly without a contract being registered is fairly big part of the story which will likely be missed.