Matt Hancock defends use of taxpayer-funded Jaguar for COVID Inquiry appearances
Matt Hancock has defended utilizing a taxpayer-funded Jaguar to take him to the COVID Inquiry – regardless of resigning from the federal government greater than two years in the past.
The Department for Health confirmed it supplied the former health secretary with the chauffeur-driven automobile on three events when he appeared earlier than the inquiry in June, November and December final yr.
The revelation comes after the Daily Mirror submitted a Freedom of Information request to the federal government.
Although the price of offering the automobile was not revealed, taxpayer cash was used to fund it, the newspaper reported.
A spokesperson for Mr Hancock mentioned it was “entirely reasonable” for the federal government to supply transport to and from the inquiry.
“Matt attended the COVID Inquiry entirely in his capacity as having been the secretary of state during the pandemic,” they mentioned.
“It is entirely reasonable that the government should take care of his travel and security arrangements in this instance.”
Mr Hancock was a well-known face on the common press conferences that occurred in the course of the pandemic.
But he was compelled to resign in 2021 after he admitted breaking the government’s coronavirus guidance whereas pursuing an affair with an aide.
The inquiry, which has additionally heard different authorities figures together with Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is analyzing the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
Key moments from Matt Hancock on the COVID Inquiry
Appearing in entrance of the inquiry in December, the previous well being secretary acknowledged that leaked footage of him kissing aide Gina Coladangelo – which confirmed they broke social distancing pointers – undermined public confidence in efforts to sort out coronavirus.
“What I’d say is that the lesson for the future is very clear,” he mentioned.
“And it is important that those who make the rules abide by them, and I resigned in order to take accountability for my failure to do that.”
Mr Hancock additionally confronted criticism from a number of witnesses on the inquiry, together with from former deputy cupboard secretary Helen MacNamara. She accused him of displaying “nuclear levels” of confidence in the beginning of the pandemic.
She claimed that Mr Hancock “regularly” informed colleagues in Downing Street issues “they later discovered weren’t true”.
Ms MacNamara mentioned he would say issues had been beneath management or being sorted in conferences, just for it to emerge in days or perhaps weeks that “was not in fact the case”.
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The former senior civil servant additionally recalled a “jarring” incident when she informed Mr Hancock that it should have been troublesome to be well being secretary throughout a pandemic.
She mentioned he responded by miming enjoying cricket, including: “They bowl them at me, I knock them away” in the course of the first lockdown.
Mr Hancock at the moment sits as an unbiased MP within the Commons after he misplaced the Tory party whip for showing on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity actuality TV present.
In December 2022 he announced he would not stand for the Conservatives in the next general election.