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Health Secretary Matt Hancock was charged last night with violating his own Covid curfew by drinking at a Commons bar after 10 p.m., where he made a rude joke about government testing and tracking failures.
Mr. Hancock arrived at the bar just before the 9.40pm vote, ordered a glass of white wine and announced: “Drinks are on my own, but Public Health England is in charge of the payment methodology so I will not pay nothing”.
His ill-conceived joke came after he had tried to explain to the Commons why the quango had lost nearly 16,000 positive tests for coronavirus, a fiasco that Labor said had put “lives at risk.”
A senior Conservative MP told The Mail on Sunday that Hancock remained in the Smoking Room bar until at least 10:25 p.m., despite President Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisting that Commons venues must abide by the same. curfew at 10 at night that all the English. pubs.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured) was charged last night with violating his own Covid curfew by drinking at a Commons bar after 10 p.m., where he made a rude joke about the government’s testing and failures of tracking.
In a carefully worded statement last night, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health said: ‘No rules have been broken.
‘The Secretary of State was in the Smoking Room before the vote that night.
The Secretary of State came out of the smoking room to vote. The vote took place at 9:42 p.m. “The Secretary of State then left the parliamentary property to go home.”
When asked if Hancock had returned to the bar after voting and before going home, the spokesperson did not respond.
The Secretary of Health is seen as the main “dove” in favor of the blockade in the Cabinet, enthusiastically backing the curfew measures.
Hancock arrived at the bar just before the 9.40pm vote and ordered a glass of white wine.
This increasingly infuriates ‘hawks’ like Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who fear the lasting economic damage caused by strict Covid rules.
Other Conservative MPs present in the smoking room on Monday have privately admitted that they are still in the room with drinks on the table after 10pm.
Last night, Charles Walker, the Conservative MP who oversees the Commons bars, promised an investigation into claims that curfew was not being enforced. Walker, chairman of the Commons Stewardship Committee, told The Mail on Sunday that he would now be “speaking to senior management within the catering department.”
He insisted that fellow deputies had to obey the rules, not depend on staff to tell them. But he added that if alcoholic beverages “are consumed in our bars after 10 pm, then those cases should stop.”
Last night the Health Secretary came under pressure to apologize for his ‘bad taste’ joke on Public Health England (PHE).
Munira Wilson, spokesperson for Liberal Democrats Health, said: “If these tacky comments are accurate, you should apologize. Matt Hancock has no shame.
“Thanks to their incompetence, we have a failed test and trace system that has left thousands of loved ones in mourning and millions worried about their livelihoods as they face new lockdown measures.
Instead of taking responsibility, he is joking at their expense and blaming everyone for his incompetence. The British public will not forget it. ‘
Hancock’s spokesman declined to comment on the comment, which came just hours after the minister faced a barrage of questions in the Commons over the fact that PHE failed to report 15,841 positive coronavirus tests in England, and he fears it meant that 50,000 potentially infectious people had failed. to be reached by contract trackers.
Hancock admitted that the error “should never have happened.”
A senior Conservative MP told The Mail on Sunday that Hancock stayed in the Smoking Room bar (pictured) until at least 10:25 p.m., despite President Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisting that the Commons venues they must comply with the same curfew of 22:00. like all english pubs
The extraordinary allegations that he broke the curfew come as Boris Johnson faces a growing conservative rebellion over the rules, which critics say are ineffective and wipe out jobs and businesses without stopping the spread of the virus.
Sources say Hancock joined 20 other MPs in the smoking room on Monday night, where he ordered a glass of French sauvignon blanc and made his joke.
One person present described how the Secretary of Health, ‘in characteristic lady pantomime style, made a joke about how he would allow everyone a drink, but since PHE was doing a tally, he would never have to pay. That made me laugh a lot ‘.
Mr. Hancock left the room for a 9:42 PM vote, but a person present claimed that Mr. Hancock had returned later and stayed past 10 PM.
Another minister, younger, ordered a bottle of wine at 9:59 p.m. and stayed drinking it with his colleagues, the source said. Hancock is also said to have ordered a large glass of white wine shortly before the bar closed at 10 p.m. and then stayed to drink it.
“He was not the only one; some people kept ordering bottles of wine until the deadline,” said a deputy.
However, it was extraordinary that at 10.25pm our Secretary of Health, the man who perhaps more than Boris himself has given a lecture to the nation on respecting Covid rules, was having a glass of wine when, in the real world, drinkers and diners had been banished from pubs and restaurants across England.
“ Everyone is panicking and trying to cover for Matt, but I know what I saw and I can tell the time. ”
