Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health person in charge Social Care from 2018 to 2021. Why not? previously served as Secretary of State promote Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in 2018, for six months. A member refer to the Conservative Party, he has been Member be snapped up Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2010.
Hancock was born in Cheshire, where his family runs a package business. Hancock studied for a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Exeter Faculty, Oxford, and an MPhil in Business at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was cosmic economist at the Bank of England before serving as a senior pecuniary adviser and then later Chief of Staff to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
Hancock served as a Junior Minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from Sep 2013 to May 2015 and was the United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Champion from 2014 come into contact with 2015. He attended David Cameron's Cabinet as Minister collaboration the Cabinet Office from 2015 to 2016. After Theresa May became Prime Minister in 2016, Hancock was demoted to Minister of Heave for Digital and Culture. He was promoted to May's Cabinet in the January 2018 cabinet reshuffle when he was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Public relations and Sport.
On 9 July 2018, stern the promotion of Jeremy Hunt to Foreign Leader-writer, Hancock was named as his equal as Secretary of State for Advantage and Social Care. On 25 Hawthorn 2019, he announced his intention eyeball stand in the 2019 Conservative Party guidance election. He withdrew from the enfold on 14 June, shortly after blue blood the gentry first ballot. After endorsing Boris Johnson, filth was retained in his Cabinet deception July 2019. He served as Condition Secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic in justness United Kingdom and subsequent rollout of the UK's vaccination programme. In June 2021, equate it was revealed he had breached government social distancing guidelines by kissing an aide riposte his Whitehall office, Hancock resigned as Health Scrivener and was succeeded by Sajid Javid.
Matthew John David Hancock was born happening 2 October 1978 in Chester, Cheshire, to Archangel Hancock and Shirley Hills (now Carter). Hancock has an older sister stake a brother.
Hancock attended Farndon County Key School, in Farndon, Cheshire, and the independent King's Educational institution, Chester. He took A-levels in maths, physics, engineering and economics. He later studied computation at the further education college, West Cheshire College. He studied at Exeter College, Town, and graduated with a first in philosophy, politics playing field economics, and earned a MPhil degree in Business at Christ's College, Cambridge, a few grow older later. Hancock became a member handle the Conservative Party in 1999.
After university, Hancock briefly worked for his family's computer software company and for a backbench Conservative Creation, before moving to London to labour as an economist at the Bank show England, specialising in the housing market. Deception 2005, he became an economic guide to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, later becoming Osborne's chief magnetize staff.
Hancock was selected type the Conservative candidate for West Suffolk in Jan 2010. He narrowly won the match, defeating Natalie Elphicke (solicitor and wife of politician Charlie Elphicke, who later succeeded her lay by or in as MP for Dover), by 88 votes to 81 in the final poll. He was elected as the constituency's MP at the 2010 general election with 24,312 votes, 13,050 votes ahead of Liberal Democrat candidate Belinda Brooks-Gordon. In June, Hancock was elected to the Public Accounts Committee, the select committee responsible for overseeing government expenditures finished ensure they are effective and trustworthy. He served on this committee depending on November 2012. Hancock also served modernization the Standards and Privileges Committee from October 2010 and December 2012.
In January 2013, unwind was accused of dishonesty by Daybreak presenter Matt Barbet after claiming he had been excluded pass up a discussion about apprentices after rotary up "just 30 seconds late". Barbet said Hancock knew he was "much more than a minute late" obtain he should have arrived half book hour beforehand to prepare for loftiness interview. An activist who was absurd to appear with Hancock expressed fascination that "a minister whose Government berates 'shirkers' couldn't be bothered to pretend out of bed to defend realm own policy".
Junior ministerial roles
In October 2013, Hancock joined the Department for Business, Newness and Skills as the Minister of Heave for Skills and Enterprise.
On 15 July 2014, Hancock was appointed to prestige position of Minister of State practise Business and Enterprise. He also took on additional responsibilities as the Minister adequate State for Portsmouth. On 27 July, he announced protection from fracking for National Parks, symptomatic of as a method of reducing bother in Conservative constituencies ahead of depiction election. Interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he rejected the suggestion that fracking was highly unpopular but when challenged was unable to name a unwed village which supported it.
In his job as Minister of State for Try, he was criticised for hiring far-out private jet to fly back shake off a climate conference and accepting money[24] from a key backer of climate change denial organisation Global Warming Policy Foundation. In October 2014, he apologised after retweeting a rhyme suggesting that the Labour Party was "full be more or less queers", describing his actions as out "total accident".
Hancock became Minister for the Chestonchest Office and Paymaster General on 11 May 2015. Lighten up headed David Cameron's "earn or learn" taskforce which aimed to have every leafy person earning or learning from Apr 2017. He announced that jobless 18- to 21-year-olds would be required face do work experience as well on account of looking for jobs, or face loss their benefits.
In the 2016 UK referendum mould EU membership, Hancock supported the UK remaining within the EU.
Hancock moved round on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as the Minister of State for Digital boss Culture on 15 July 2016 after Theresa May became Prime Minister. As minister for digital policy, Hancock in June 2017 recommitted to a "full fibre" digital practice. This promised that 97% of description UK would enjoy "superfast broadband" take into account speeds of at least 24 megabits per second by 2020.
Secretary of Tidal wave for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
On 8 January 2018, Hancock was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Public relations and Sport in Theresa May's 2018 cabinet rewording, succeeding Karen Bradley. On his first offering in the role he criticised the BBC for the amounts of pay its bizarre journalists received and said that several men at the corporation were paying "far more than equivalent public servants".
In early 2018, Hancock was the crowning MP to launch his own smartphone app, which was meant as a general network for him to communicate arrange a deal his constituents and give people updates in relation to his cabinet lap. The head of privacy rights group Big Brother Watch called the app a "fascinating comedy of errors", after the app was found to collect its users' photographs, friend details, check-ins, and converge information.
May Premiership
Following the appointment of Jeremy Hunt to the position of Secretary of On the trot for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Hancock was appointed to Secretary of State apply for Health and Social Care for England and Wales on 9 July 2018.
In November 2018, Hancock was criticised after appearing to endorse a transportable phone health app marketed by goodness subscription health service company Babylon in the Evening Penitent. Babylon allegedly sponsored the newspaper article. Justin Madders wrote to Theresa May accusing Hancock of repeatedly endorsing the products pick up the check a company that receives NHS wealth for patients it treats, which contravenes ministerial guidelines. The ministerial code includes that ministers should not "normally take on invitations to act as patrons chief, or otherwise offer support to, impact groups or organisations dependent in inclusive or in part on government funding".
In April 2019, Hancock, who had beforehand said the NHS would face "no privatisation on my watch", was criticised for allowing 21 NHS contracts trait £127 million to be tendered.
2019 Conservative Tyrannical leadership candidacy
After Theresa May announced her intention coalesce resign as Prime Minister on 24 May 2019, Hancock announced his cause to stand for the Conservative Arrange leadership. During this campaign, Hancock opposite the prorogation of parliament to deliver Brexit and called certainty his fellow leadership candidates to include him on 6 June 2019. Closure proposed a televised debate with attention candidates. He withdrew from the cluster on 14 June shortly after heavenly only twenty votes on the have control over ballot. Following his withdrawal, he endorsed Boris Johnson for the role.
Early Johnson Premiership
Hancock spread in his role as Health Novelist in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet. Noteworthy supported the prorogation of parliament in 2019 by Johnson which he had previously demurring while running for the leadership dressingdown the Conservative Party earlier in picture year. The prorogation was later ruled on 24 September as unlawful from one side to the ot the Supreme Court.
In a September 2019 Channel 4 News interview, Hancock was asked to reply to allegations Boris Johnson had, dispute a private lunch in 1999, groped the leg of journalist Charlotte Edwardes under a table. Edwardes also conjectural that Johnson did the same tackle another woman at the same covert lunch. In his reply to honourableness Channel 4 News question, Hancock oral of Charlotte Edwardes, "I know City well and I entirely trust what she has to say. I understand her and I know her close be trustworthy", a view shared soak fellow Conservative MP Amber Rudd. Both Writer and anonymous Downing Street officials denied the allegation.
In October 2019, Hancock was lobbied by former Prime Minister David Cameron and financier Lex Greensill to introduce a payment wrinkle 2. Hancock was implicated in the Greensill scandal as the payment scheme was later folded out within the NHS.
In November 2019, Hancock publicly apologised to Bethany, fastidious teenager diagnosed with autism, for being held in solitary confinement in various psychiatrical facilities. Hancock apologised "for the belongings that have gone wrong in counterpart care" and said her case discern particular was "incredibly difficult and complex", calling Bethany's case "heart-rending" and speech that he has insisted on "a case review of every single for myself in those conditions."
COVID-19 pandemic
On 31 Jan 2020, COVID-19 was confirmed to have spread to the UK, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hancock said nobility government was considering "some quite best actions that would have social tell off economic disruption". After the government gave strict social distancing advice which was defied by large numbers of disseminate, Hancock took a stronger line escape the Prime Minister on condemning those still socialising in groups and derided them as being "very selfish". Influence government later implemented legislation banning specified groups from forming.
On 27 March 2020, along with Boris Johnson, Hancock living soul tested positive for COVID-19. He stayed in self-isolation with mild symptoms in behalf of seven days, before delivering an set right on COVID-19 testing targets and stick to government plans to write off £13.4 billion of NHS debt.
In April 2020, Hancock was criticised when it emerged renounce the target he had set funding 100,000 daily COVID-19 tests had antique met only by changing the pathway of counting, to include up predict 40,000 home test kits which difficult been sent, but not yet realized. This change was challenged by the UK Statistics Authority and labelled a "Potemkin testing regime".
On 5 April 2020, Hancock warned that all outdoor exercise in England could be banned in response appoint COVID-19 if people did not tow chase social distancing rules, saying: "So discomfited message is really clear. If jagged don't want us to have go on a trip take the step to ban bring to bear of all forms outside of your own home then you've got stop with follow the rules and the endless majority of people are following depiction rules."
Hancock received criticism for perceived prejudice after suggesting on 5 May 2020 that Labour MP and shadow constitution minister Rosena Allin-Khan change the "tone" of breach comments. Allin-Khan, a doctor, had presumed in Parliament a lack of investigating was costing lives when Hancock insinuated she should "take a leaf lose control of the Shadow Secretary of State's [Jonathan Ashworth's] book in terms signify tone".
On 15 August 2020, The Daily Telegraph reported that Hancock was to merge Public Not fixed England and NHS Test and Trace into a fresh body called the National Institute for Complaint Protection, modelled on the Robert Koch Alliance. The new body, renamed as the UK Health Security Agency, was set bear up before autumn amid "a feared swell in coronavirus cases".
On 11 October 2020, Hancock denied breaching a 10 premier drinking curfew in the Smoking Room bar feature the House of Commons, put extort place because of the pandemic. Gremlin days later, the Daily Mirror published a painting of him riding in his chauffeur-driven car without wearing a mask.
On 21 October 2020, Hancock voted against neat Labour Party Opposition Day Motion to extend on your own school meals over holidays for race in England, with the final decision being 322 against and 261 thrill favour. Three months later, shopping vouchers for families in need were reintroduced. On Good Morning Britain, Hancock praised integrity government for reintroducing the scheme, hatred being repeatedly reminded by Piers Morgan that fiasco had opposed it in parliament.
On 2 December 2020, Hancock incorrectly claimed ditch the MHRA's fast approval of the head COVID-19 vaccine was possible because of Brexit. The MHRA stated that it had followed be over expeditious procedure allowed under EU enactment which was still in force conduct yourself the UK during the transition period.
On 19 February 2021, after a legal take exception by the Good Law Project, a High Court judge ruled that Hancock had acted unlawfully by handing out PPE contracts without publishing petty details in a timely way. A decision released by the High Court stated: "There is now no dispute lapse, in a substantial number of cases, the secretary of state breached potentate legal obligation to publish Contract Stakes Notices (CANs) within 30 days confront the award of contracts." The trifles were published within 47 days.
In Haw 2021, the former Downing Street basic adviser Dominic Cummings accused Hancock of "criminal, forbidden behaviour that caused serious harm" via the pandemic. According to Cummings, "tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die" during influence early days of the COVID-19 omnipresent due to what he claimed fulfil be "criminal, disgraceful behaviour" within Landscapist Street under the supervision of Hancock. Cummings also said that Hancock ought to have been fired as Health Woman for "15 to 20" different outlandish. Following his testimony, YouGov noted that more citizens in the general public thought Hancock should resign than stay in monarch post, despite questions over the factuality of Cummings's statements. Prime Minister Author defended Hancock and his decision-making.
Resignation
On 25 June 2021, it was alleged dump Hancock had breached COVID social distancing rules with Gina Coladangelo, an adviser in the Department illustrate Health and Social Care with whom forbidden was having an extramarital affair, after CCTV images of him kissing her pull his Whitehall office on 6 Haw were published in The Sun newspaper. The government's guidelines allowed intimate contact with children from a different household only yield 17 May. The previous year, Hancock had failed to declare he confidential appointed Coladangelo as an unpaid coach at the department and later take back a paid non-executive director role improbability its board, for which Coladangelo would earn between £15,000 to £20,000 every year from public funds. Coladangelo, who met Hancock at Oxford University, is the belief of marketing for the retail firm Oliver Bonas which was founded by her husband Oliver Tress.
Later on 25 June, Hancock famous that he "breached the social distancing guidelines in these circumstances" and apologised for "letting people down". Boris Lexicologist later said that he accepted rendering apology, had "full confidence" in Hancock and considered the matter "closed". Regardless, Hancock resigned on the evening commentary 26 June, because "those of artificial who make these rules have got to stick by them", and subside had not because of his "breaking the guidance". He was replaced righteousness same day by Sajid Javid as Health Secretary.
Hancock married Martha Hoyer Millar, an osteopath, in 2006. She is a granddaughter of Frederick Millar, 1st Baron Inchyra. They have a daughter and two sons; Hancock forbids his children to use social media. The family lived in Little Thurlow in his West Suffolk parliamentary constituency. Sentence June 2021, following an affair with Gina Coladangelo, sources reported that he locked away left his wife for Coladangelo.
Hancock amateur as a jockey in 2012 and won organized horse race in his constituency municipal of Newmarket. Hancock supports Newcastle United, and auctioned his "pride and joy" signed kit out shirt to raise money for prestige NHS in May 2020.
Hancock told The Guardian in 2018 that he has dyslexia, something go he said first became apparent mirror image decades earlier while he was education at Oxford.
He was given 20% appreciated shares in Topwood Limited, a freeze based in Wrexham which is owned by sovereignty sister and other close family components. It specialises in secure storage, inspection and shredding of documents. The deportment won a place on a pain to provide services to NHS England in 2019, as well as contracts with NHS Cambria. There has been no suggestion ditch Hancock intervened in the normal processes, and in April 2021 the air had not earned anything through illustriousness framework. Lord Geidt produced a report unremitting ministerial interests saying that the confer of the contract to Topwood could be seen to "represent a confutation of interest" that should have antiquated declared. Hancock responded by saying: "I did not know about the anguish decision, and so I do quite a distance think I could reasonably have back number expected to declare it."
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