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Matt Hancock, Britain’s biggest health crisis minister, left on Saturday night in the face of fierce criticism of his relationship with an adviser he put on the public payroll.
During Saturday, support for Hancock was leaked and Conservative MPs said his position had become untenable, while cabinet ministers refused to publicly support him.
Just after six in the afternoon, Downing Street confirmed that Hancock had resigned. The minister admitted in his resignation letter that he had let people down by not respecting his own health guidelines.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will now have to find a new health secretary just as the country begins to emerge from the pandemic, but there are many health challenges ahead, including a huge NHS slope.
On Friday Johnson seemed determined to cling to Hancock, though the health secretary admitted he had broken social distancing guidelines by kissing his adviser Gina Coladangelo at his Whitehall office in May.
On Saturday evening it was announced that Coladangelo had also left his post as non-executive director in the health department.
In his resignation letter, Hancock said, “We owe it to the people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done in violation of the guidelines.”
He added: “The last thing I want is for my private life to distract attention from the single focus that is leading us out of this crisis.”
Some Conservative officials consider Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi to be the cleanest election as Hancock’s successor; his appointment to the middle ranks of government would prevent the need for a wider cabinet reshuffle.
Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove, Treasury Secretary General Steve Barclay and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden were promoted as possible alternatives.
Hancock, who is married, apologized to his family for suffering the test of seeing their relationship on the front page of every national newspaper and said he wanted to spend time with his three children.
Senior Conservatives said there were no new revelations about his conduct that forced Hancock’s resignation, but Conservative MPs were very public and critical of his initial decision to cling to his job.
Duncan Baker, a North Norfolk MP, told the East Daily Press: “I will not accept this behavior in any way and in the strongest possible terms I have told the government what I think.” Esther McVey, a former minister, told GB News “if it had been me, I would have resigned”.
Johnson, in his response to Hancock’s resignation, suggested he could return at a later stage. “You should be very proud of your service,” he said. “I think your contribution to public service is far from over.”
The aftermath of Hancock’s relationship with his adviser, whom he appointed to £ 15,000 part-time as his department’s non-executive director, threatened to dominate the political debate in a crucial week for Johnson.
Conservatives hope to win the Labor seat in Batley and Spen in a parliamentary by-election on Thursday, but opinion polls showed the public felt Hancock should step down.
Labor has claimed that Hancock’s conduct showed that there was one rule for senior Conservatives and another for members of the public.
A senior Conservative official said: “It was inevitable. There was real anger in the party for breaking Covid’s rules.
Guidelines for social distancing from close contact with someone from another home were withdrawn two weeks after Hancock was pictured on a CCTV camera in his own apartment building kissing Coladangelo, the chain’s communications director retail Oliver Bonas.
One of Hancock’s fellow MPs said, “I was going to campaign on Saturday morning and two separated people came out into the street to harangue me about Hancock. It had been cut.”
Hancock was to introduce legislation soon to significantly strengthen the Secretary of State’s powers over the NHS, reversing key aspects of a controversial 2012 service shake that gave operational independence to NHS England.
Under the proposed legislation, the health secretary would be given “better management powers” over the NHS, including a veto on some top health services appointments and the authority to intervene earlier on decisions about whether to close or degrade a hospital , for example.
Hancock and Downing Street had wanted to bolster the service to make sure the general election promises to increase the number of nurses by 50,000 by the end of parliament and offer 50 million more doctor consultations.
Hancock was also set to play a role in deciding who was to become the next NHS England chief executive when Sir Simon Stevens resigned at the end of next month.
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