Matt Hancock

Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 2018. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in 2018 for six months. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2010.

This article is about the British politician. For the character from the soap opera Neighbours, see Matt Hancock (Neighbours).

The Right Honourable

Matt Hancock

MP
Hancock in 2020
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Assumed office
9 July 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Boris Johnson
Preceded byJeremy Hunt
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
In office
8 January 2018 – 9 July 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byKaren Bradley
Succeeded byJeremy Wright
Minister of State for Digital and Culture
In office
15 July 2016 – 8 January 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byEd Vaizey
Succeeded byMargot James
Minister for the Cabinet Office
Paymaster General
In office
11 May 2015 – 14 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byFrancis Maude
Succeeded byBen Gummer
Minister of State for Business and Enterprise
In office
15 July 2014 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMichael Fallon
Succeeded byAnna Soubry
Minister of State for Energy
In office
15 July 2014 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMichael Fallon
Succeeded byAndrea Leadsom
Minister of State for Portsmouth
In office
15 July 2014 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMichael Fallon
Succeeded byMark Francois
Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise
In office
8 September 2013 – 15 July 2014
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byJohn Hayes
Succeeded byNick Boles
Member of Parliament
for West Suffolk
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byRichard Spring
Majority23,194 (45.1%)
Personal details
Born
Matthew John David Hancock

(1978-10-02) 2 October 1978
Chester, Cheshire, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Martha Hoyer Millar
(
m. 2006)
Children3
EducationThe King's School, Chester
Alma mater
Websitematt-hancock.com

Hancock was born in Cheshire, where his family runs a software business. Hancock studied for a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Exeter College, Oxford, and an MPhil in Economics at Christ's College, Cambridge, as a postgraduate student. He was an economist at the Bank of England before serving as a senior economic adviser and then later Chief of Staff to George Osborne.

Hancock served in a number of middle-ranking ministerial positions from September 2013 under both David Cameron and Theresa May. He was promoted to the Cabinet in the January 2018 cabinet reshuffle when he was appointed Culture Secretary.[1]

On 9 July 2018, after the promotion of Jeremy Hunt to Foreign Secretary, Hancock was named as his replacement as Health and Social Care Secretary.[2] On 25 May 2019, Hancock announced his intention to stand in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election. He withdrew from the race on 14 June shortly after the first ballot. After endorsing Boris Johnson, he was retained in his cabinet in July 2019.

Early life and career

Matthew John David Hancock was born on 2 October 1978 in Chester, Cheshire, to Michael Hancock and Shirley Hills (now Carter).[3] Hancock attended Farndon County Primary School, in Farndon, Cheshire, and the independent King's School, Chester. He took A-levels in maths, physics, computing and economics.[4] He later studied computing at the further education college, West Cheshire College.[5][6] He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and graduated with a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and earned a MPhil degree in Economics at Christ's College, Cambridge a few years later.[6][7] Hancock became a member of the Conservative Party in 1999.[8]

After university, Hancock briefly worked for his family's computer software company and for a backbench Conservative MP,[4] before moving to London to work as an economist at the Bank of England, specialising in the housing market. In 2005, he became an economic adviser to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, later becoming Osborne's chief of staff.[7][9]

Early parliamentary career

Hancock was selected as the Conservative candidate for West Suffolk in January 2010. He narrowly won the contest, defeating Natalie Elphicke (solicitor and wife of politician Charlie Elphicke, who later succeeded him as MP for Dover), by 88 votes to 81 in the final ballot.[10] 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.[11] In June, Hancock was elected to the Public Accounts Committee, the select committee responsible for overseeing government expenditures to ensure they are effective and honest.[12] He served on this committee until November 2012. Hancock has also served on the Standards and Privileges Committee between October 2010 and December 2012.[13]

In January 2013, he was accused of dishonesty by Daybreak presenter Matt Barbet after claiming he had been excluded from a discussion about apprentices after turning up "just 30 seconds late".[14] Barbet said Hancock knew he was "much more than a minute late" and he should have arrived half an hour beforehand to prepare for the interview. An activist who was due to appear with Hancock expressed surprise that "a minister whose Government berates 'shirkers' couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to defend his own policy".[14]

Junior ministerial roles

In October 2013, Hancock joined the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as the Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise.[15]

On 15 July 2014, Hancock was appointed to the position of Minister of State for Business and Enterprise. He also took on additional responsibilities as the Minister of State for Portsmouth. On 27 July, he announced protection from fracking for National Parks,[16] seen as a method of reducing anger in Conservative constituencies ahead of the election.[17] 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 single village which supported it.[17][18]

In his role as Minister of State for Energy, he was criticised for hiring a private jet to fly back from a climate conference[19] and accepting money[20] from a key backer of climate change denial organisation Global Warming Policy Foundation. In October 2014, he apologised after retweeting a poem suggesting that the Labour Party was "full of queers", describing his actions as a "total accident".[18][21]

Hancock became Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 11 May 2015.[22] He headed David Cameron's "earn or learn" taskforce which aimed to have every young person earning or learning from April 2017. He announced that jobless 18- to 21-year-olds would be required to do work experience as well as looking for jobs, or face losing their benefits.[23]

In the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership, Hancock supported the UK remaining within the EU.[24]

Hancock moved to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as the Minister of State for Digital and Culture on 15 July 2016 after Theresa May became Prime Minister.[25] As minister for digital policy, Hancock in June 2017 recommitted to a "full fibre" digital policy. This promised that 97% of the UK would enjoy "superfast broadband" at speeds of at least 24 megabits per second by 2020.[26]

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

On 8 January 2018, Hancock was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in Theresa May's 2018 cabinet reshuffle, succeeding Karen Bradley.[27] On his first day in the role he criticised the BBC for the amounts of pay its foreign journalists received and said that some men at the corporation were paid "far more than equivalent public servants".[28]

In early 2018, Hancock was the first MP to launch his own smartphone app,[29] which was meant as a social network for him to communicate with his constituents and give people updates in relation to his cabinet role.[30] The head of privacy rights group Big Brother Watch called the app a "fascinating comedy of errors",[31] after the app was found to collect its users' photographs, friend details, check-ins, and contact information.[32]

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Following the appointment of Jeremy Hunt to the position of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Hancock was appointed to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 9 July 2018.[33]

In November 2018, Hancock was criticised after appearing to endorse a mobile phone health app marketed by the subscription health service company Babylon in the Evening Standard. Babylon allegedly sponsored the newspaper article. Justin Madders wrote to Theresa May accusing Hancock of repeatedly endorsing the products of a company that receives NHS funds for patients it treats, which contravenes ministerial guidelines. The ministerial code includes that ministers should not "normally accept invitations to act as patrons of, or otherwise offer support to, pressure groups or organisations dependent in whole or in part on government funding".[34]

In April 2019, Hancock, who had previously said the NHS would face "no privatisation on my watch", was criticised for allowing 21 NHS contracts worth £127 million to be tendered.[35]

Hancock continued in his role as Health Secretary in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet. He supported the prorogation of parliament in 2019 by Johnson which he had previously opposed while running for the leadership of the Conservative Party earlier in the year.[36] The prorogation was later ruled on 24 September as unlawful by the Supreme Court.[37]

In a September 2019 Channel 4 News interview, Hancock was asked to respond to allegations Boris Johnson had, at a private lunch in 1999, groped the leg of journalist Charlotte Edwardes under a table. Edwardes also claimed that Johnson did the same to another woman at the same private lunch. In his reply to the Channel 4 News question, Hancock said of Charlotte Edwardes, "I know Charlotte well and I entirely trust what she has to say. I know her and I know her to be trustworthy", a view shared by fellow Conservative MP Amber Rudd. Both Johnson and anonymous Downing Street officials denied the allegation.[38][39][40]

Hancock drew criticism in November 2019, following the total seclusion of 18-year-old Bethany, an autistic teenager, for almost 3 years in the tiny rooms of psychiatric facilities across Britain. The minister publicly apologised "for the things that have gone wrong in her care" and claimed her case in particular was "incredibly difficult and complex". Bethany's case attracted national attention towards the detention of hundreds of young people living with autism or other learning disabilities in Britain, and demanded an inquiry into the mental health system by a parliamentary committee.[41]

2019 Conservative Party leadership candidacy
Main article: 2019 Conservative Party leadership election

After Theresa May announced her intention to resign as Prime Minister, Hancock announced his intention to stand for the Conservative Party leadership. During this campaign, Hancock opposed the prorogation of parliament to deliver Brexit and called on his fellow leadership candidates to join him on 6 June 2019.[42] He proposed a televised debate with other candidates.[43] He withdrew from the race on 14 June shortly after winning only twenty votes on the first ballot.[44] Following his withdrawal, he endorsed Boris Johnson for the role.[45]

COVID-19 pandemic

On 31 January 2020, COVID-19 was confirmed to have spread to the UK, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hancock said the government was considering "some quite significant actions that would have social and economic disruption".[46] After the government gave strict social distancing advice which was defied by large numbers of people, Hancock took a stronger line than the prime minister on condemning those still socialising in groups and derided them as being "very selfish".[47] The government later implemented legislation banning such groups from forming.[48]

On 27 March 2020, along with Boris Johnson, Hancock himself tested positive for COVID-19.[49] He stayed in self-isolation with mild symptoms for seven days, before delivering an update on COVID-19 testing targets and on government plans to write off £13.4 billion of NHS debt.[50][51][52]

In April 2020, Hancock was criticised when it emerged that the target he had set for 100,000 daily COVID-19 tests had been met only by changing the method of counting, to include up to 40,000 home test kits which had been sent, but not yet completed.[53] This change was challenged by the UK Statistics Authority[54] and labelled a "Potemkin testing regime".[55]

On 5 April 2020, Hancock threatened to ban all outdoor exercise in the UK in response to COVID-19 if people did not follow social distancing rules, saying "So my message is really clear. If you don't want us to have to take the step to ban exercise of all forms outside of your own home then you've got to follow the rules and the vast majority people are following the rules."[56]

Hancock received criticism for perceived sexism after suggesting on 5 May 2020 that Labour MP and shadow health minister Rosena Allin-Khan change the "tone" of her comments.[57] Allin-Khan, a doctor, had stated in Parliament a lack of testing was costing lives when Hancock suggested she should "take a leaf out of the Shadow Secretary of State's [Jonathan Ashworth's] book in terms of tone".[58]

On 15 August 2020 The Telegraph reported that Hancock was to merge Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace into a new body called the National Institute for Health Protection, modelled on the Robert Koch Institute. The new body will be set up before autumn and "a feared surge in coronavirus cases".[59]

Personal life

Hancock married Martha Hoyer Millar, an osteopath, in 2006.[3] She is a granddaughter of Frederick Millar, 1st Baron Inchyra.[60] They have a daughter and two sons.[7][61] They live in Little Thurlow in his West Suffolk parliamentary constituency.[62] Hancock has an older sister and a brother.[63] He has dyslexia.[64]

Hancock trained as a jockey in 2012 and won a horse race in his constituency town of Newmarket.[4]

Hancock supports Newcastle United, and auctioned his 'pride and joy' signed team shirt to raise money for the NHS in May 2020.[65][66]

gollark: Well, if your moral framework is "what's good for me", you don't really!
gollark: [REDACTED]
gollark: Bees are not known to make you tired.
gollark: You're just presupposing hedonist morality to make your argument, then.
gollark: Ethically sourced honey.

References
  1. "Cabinet reshuffle: Greening quits government". BBC News. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. Embury-Dennis, Tom; Buchan, Lizzie (9 July 2018). "Matt Hancock replaces Jeremy Hunt as health secretary". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  3. "Hancock, Rt Hon. Matthew (John David)". UK Who's Who. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  4. Sampson, Annabel (20 April 2020). "Who is the Tory Health Secretary, Matt Hancock?". Tatler. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. Whittaker, Freddie (24 April 2014). "Matthew Hancock MP, skills minister". FE Week. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  6. "Cabinet role for MP Matt Hancock". King's School Chester. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  7. "Young minister has the skills to climb to the top in Westminster". Financial Times. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. "Matthew Hancock". www.parliament.uk. 8 August 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012.
  9. Thomson, Alice; Sylvester, Rachel (4 May 2019). "Matt Hancock interview: 'Voters want the centre, not the extremes'". The Times. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  10. Gimson, Andrew (10 May 2018). "Profile: Matt Hancock, the Osborne acolyte who managed to survive and prosper". Conservative Home. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  11. "Election 2010: Constituency: Suffolk West". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  12. "Members of the 2010 intake dominate the Conservative membership of Select Committees Tory MPs". Conservative Home. 24 June 2010. Archived from the original on 27 June 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  13. "Rt Hon Matt Hancock". parliament.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  14. Peter Dominiczak (11 January 2013). "Hancock's half-hour: Tory minister accused of 'dishonesty' about missed TV appearance". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  15. "Who is Matt Hancock? Meet David Cameron's new business minister". City A.M. London. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  16. Peter Dominiczak (27 July 2014). "National parks to be 'protected' from fracking, Government says". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. Graham, Georgia (28 July 2014). "Fracking: Matthew Hancock fails to name a single village that supports it". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  18. "Tory Minister retweets 'Labour is full of queers' poem". www.pinknews.co.uk. 2 October 2014.
  19. Severin Carrell (2 April 2015). "Energy minister under fire for hiring jet to fly back from climate change deal". The Guardian. London.
  20. Rowena Mason (10 April 2015). "Energy and climate change minister accepts £18,000 from climate sceptic". The Guardian. London.
  21. "Minister Matthew Hancock sorry for 'queers' retweet". BBC News. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  22. "The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP". Gov.uk.
  23. "Hancock: Every young person should be earning or learning from April 2017" (Press release). Cabinet Office. 17 August 2015.
  24. "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand". BBC News. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  25. "New jobs for East Anglian MPs as ministers in May government". ITV News. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  26. Mark Jackson, ISP review, "Digital Minister Matt Hancock Recommits to "Full Fibre" Broadband Policy", 14 June 2017
  27. "Reshuffle: Hancock promoted to cabinet". BBC News. 8 January 2018.
  28. Ruddick, Graham (9 January 2018). "New culture secretary attacks pay of BBC foreign editors". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  29. "'Hi I'm Matt Hancock - here's my app'". BBC News. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  30. Hern, Alex (1 February 2018). "MP Matt Hancock releases app called Matt Hancock MP". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  31. Burgess, Matt (February 2018). "Matt Hancock MP has launched an app. And he wants all your data". Wired UK. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  32. "Culture Secretary Matt Hancock mocked for launching social media network". Sky News. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  33. "Rt Hon Matt Hancock". gov.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  34. Rajeev Syal (30 November 2018). "Matt Hancock accused of breaching code over GP app endorsement". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  35. Kentish, Benjamin (6 April 2019). "NHS offering £127m of contracts to private companies despite health secretary pledging: 'No privatisation on my watch'". The Independent. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  36. "Matt Hancock rows back from views on suspending parliament". The Guardian. 31 August 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  37. "Supreme Court: Suspending Parliament was unlawful, judges rule". BBC News. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  38. Proctor, Kate; Stewart, Heather (29 September 2019). "No 10 denies claims Boris Johnson squeezed journalist's thigh". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  39. "No 10 denies Johnson 'thigh squeeze' claim". BBC News. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  40. "Boris Johnson denies groping allegation after backing from Javid". The Guardian. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  41. Magra, Iliana (10 November 2019). "U.K. Minister Apologizes for Case of Teen With Autism Kept in Seclusion". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  42. Rourke, Alison (29 August 2019). "'Mad suggestion': how Tory ministers once viewed call to prorogue parliament". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  43. "Hunt warns against no-deal Brexit 'suicide'". BBC News. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  44. "Tory leadership: Matt Hancock quits contest". BBC News. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  45. Hancock, Matt (16 June 2019). "Matt Hancock: Boris and I have had our differences but he's the one to unite us". Retrieved 16 April 2020 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  46. Syal, Rajeev (1 March 2020). "Matt Hancock: shutting down UK cities 'may become necessary'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  47. Mason, Rowena (23 March 2020). "Hancock accuses those still socialising in UK of being 'very selfish'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  48. "Strict new curbs on life in UK announced by PM". BBC News. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  49. "Health Secretary Matt Hancock tests positive for coronavirus". ITV News. 27 March 2020.
  50. Mason, Rowena (2 April 2020). "Boris Johnson still has Covid-19 symptoms and may stay in isolation". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  51. Elliott, Francis; Lay, Kat (3 April 2020). "Matt Hancock wipes £13bn of NHS debt to bolster hospitals". The Times. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  52. Buchan, Lizzie (2 April 2020). "Government to write off £13.4bn in historic NHS debt amid coronavirus crisis". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  53. Carding, Nick (1 May 2020). "Government counts mailouts to hit 100,000 testing target". HSJ. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  54. Illman, Nick (11 May 2020). "Hancock challenged over covid testing numbers by stats watchdog". HSJ. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  55. Chakrabortty, Aditya (13 May 2020). "Right now, the only thing staving off a collapse in the social order is the state". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  56. Cowburn, Ashley (5 April 2020). "Coronavirus: Outdoor exercise could be banned if Britons continue to flout lockdown rules, government warns". The Independent. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  57. Cohen, Claire (5 May 2020). "Would Matt Hancock have told a male MP to watch his tone? I don't think so". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  58. Agarwal, Praya (6 May 2020). "Why did Matt Hancock's tone policing backfire? Because women like Rosena Allin-Khan have put up with it all their lives". The Independent. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  59. Hope, Christopher (15 August 2020). "Hancock axes 'failing' Public Health England". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  60. "Hancock/Hoyer Millar engagement". The Daily Telegraph. 18 October 2005.
  61. Mikhailova, Anna (11 June 2018). "Culture Secretary Matt Hancock reveals he does not allow his children to use social media". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  62. "New health secretary is Chester-born Matt Hancock MP". Cheshire Live. 10 July 2018.
  63. Sabur, Rozina (8 May 2017). "Sister of government minister suffers 'traumatic brain injury' after falling from horse". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  64. Weaver, Matthew (3 October 2018). "Matt Hancock dyslexia struggles 'strengthen case against cuts'". The Guardian.
  65. Sabur, Rozina (8 May 2020). "Matt Hancock Auctions Pride and Joy". The Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  66. Walker, Jonathan (1 April 2020). "Why did Matt Hancock have a Newcastle United shirt on his wall?". The Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Spring		 Member of Parliament
for West Suffolk
2010–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
John Hayes		 Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise
2013–2014		 Succeeded by
Nick Boles
Preceded by
Michael Fallon		 Minister of State for Business and Enterprise
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Anna Soubry
as Minister of State for Small Business
Minister of State for Energy
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Andrea Leadsom
Minister of State for Portsmouth
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Mark Francois
Preceded by
Francis Maude		 Minister for the Cabinet Office
2015–2016		 Succeeded by
Ben Gummer
Paymaster General
2015–2016
Preceded by
Ed Vaizey		 Minister of State for Digital and Culture
2016–2018		 Succeeded by
Margot James
Preceded by
Karen Bradley		 Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
2018		 Succeeded by
Jeremy Wright
Preceded by
Jeremy Hunt		 Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
2018–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.