Westminster Politics

Leaving aside Hancock's abilities, does it really matter that he is keeping in touch with an old friend (with benefits) from his Uni days?
Surely, for example, his alleged involvement in the placing of PPE contracts with his mates, is more important? So why is this story , if true, not receiving much more attention?.
I am not feeling sorry for Matt Hancock, anyone in the public eye like he is who is daft enough to bringing down the press on himself and his family and friends with this kind of 'thinking with his **ck' behaviour, deserves ridicule; but the opprobrium he gets in terms of his performance as a Minister, has to relate to his job.
 
Maticmaker said:
Leaving aside Hancock's abilities, does it really matter that he is keeping in touch with an old friend (with benefits) from his Uni days?
Surely, for example, his alleged involvement in the placing of PPE contracts with his mates, is more important? So why is this story , if true, not receiving much more attention?.
I am not feeling sorry for Matt Hancock, anyone in the public eye like he is who is daft enough to bringing down the press on himself and his family and friends with this kind of 'thinking with his **ck' behaviour, deserves ridicule; but the opprobrium he gets in terms of his performance as a Minister, has to relate to his job.
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What about the fact she's in a salaried role? Or that when Prof Ferguson broke the rules last year Hancock said it was right for him to resign. The fact is he should have resigned but Johnson can't lever him out because he's done exactly the same thing.
 
Maticmaker said:
Leaving aside Hancock's abilities, does it really matter that he is keeping in touch with an old friend (with benefits) from his Uni days?
Surely, for example, his alleged involvement in the placing of PPE contracts with his mates, is more important? So why is this story , if true, not receiving much more attention?.
I am not feeling sorry for Matt Hancock, anyone in the public eye like he is who is daft enough to bringing down the press on himself and his family and friends with this kind of 'thinking with his **ck' behaviour, deserves ridicule; but the opprobrium he gets in terms of his performance as a Minister, has to relate to his job.
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The criticism he gets from the press is probably not as harsh as he gets from the court of public opinion.
I dislike elitism of any kind. And I dislike even more the attitude of I am above the law/rules just because I am part of the government.
And if Hancock had any sense of decency at all, he would have resigned. Instead of hiding behind his job and behind his boss
 
Maticmaker said:
Leaving aside Hancock's abilities, does it really matter that he is keeping in touch with an old friend (with benefits) from his Uni days?
Surely, for example, his alleged involvement in the placing of PPE contracts with his mates, is more important? So why is this story , if true, not receiving much more attention?.
I am not feeling sorry for Matt Hancock, anyone in the public eye like he is who is daft enough to bringing down the press on himself and his family and friends with this kind of 'thinking with his **ck' behaviour, deserves ridicule; but the opprobrium he gets in terms of his performance as a Minister, has to relate to his job.
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As per the ministerial code they agree to, Hancock is expected to ensure that no conflict of interest or perceived conflict of interest arises between his public duties and personal interests. Appointing someone he's secretly having an affair with to a salaried oversight role at the taxpayers' expense falls directly under that category. It's directly comparable to the awarding of contracts to his friends you mention.

Beyond that, it was also a breach of the social restrictions his government were pushing and in that sense directly comparable to the Neil Ferguson situation from last year, in which Hancock said Ferguson was right to resign.
 
Maticmaker said:
Leaving aside Hancock's abilities, does it really matter that he is keeping in touch with an old friend (with benefits) from his Uni days?
Surely, for example, his alleged involvement in the placing of PPE contracts with his mates, is more important? So why is this story , if true, not receiving much more attention?.
I am not feeling sorry for Matt Hancock, anyone in the public eye like he is who is daft enough to bringing down the press on himself and his family and friends with this kind of 'thinking with his **ck' behaviour, deserves ridicule; but the opprobrium he gets in terms of his performance as a Minister, has to relate to his job.
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You're right, and I can't help but feel it's a united effort to deflect from the really shit things that have come out from this story. "Man has affair" is easier to handle from a media point of view than "man gives mistress's family millions in taxpayers money".
 
Good riddance. He’ll probably get a peerage next year.
 
Just as I thought. All the corruption, all the people dead. Who cares about that? He kissed somebody so he has to go.
 
'The NHS is the best gift a nation has ever given itself' What sort of fecking language is that? It wasn't a gift, it was fought for, and won by, the Labour Party.
Guess who opposed it?
 
acnumber9 said:
Just as I thought. All the corruption, all the people dead. Who cares about that? He kissed somebody so he has to go.
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I think the press have more stuff on him so he’s walked rather than being pushed. There’s plenty else that should’ve gotten him (and others) sacked/resigned over the last 15 months.
 
acnumber9 said:
Just as I thought. All the corruption, all the people dead. Who cares about that? He kissed somebody so he has to go.
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If it was just an affair he wouldn't have gone. He's the health minister and has publicly broken his own guidance. That's before even getting into the fact the affair is with an underling something that would get you sacked in most jobs. Especially if you hired them as a friend and gave them tax papers money.

I bet plenty of others knew about the affair and could have easily used it as blackmail.

Generally bad conduct will see you sacked way before a lack of competence in politics.
 
ha_rooney said:
I think the press have more stuff on him so he’s walked rather than being pushed. There’s plenty else that should’ve gotten him (and others) sacked/resigned over the last 15 months.
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Something obviously changed between yesterday and today. Whether it was just the pressure we don’t know. Glad he’s gone, but it’s a joke that it’s because of this.
 
Smores said:
If it was just an affair he wouldn't have gone. He's the health minister and has publicly broken his own guidance. That's before even getting into the fact the affair is with an underling something that would get you sacked in most jobs. Especially if you hired them as a friend and gave them tax papers money.

I bet plenty of others knew about the affair and could have easily used it as blackmail.

Generally bad conduct will see you sacked way before a lack of competence in politics.
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It’s not just been lack of competence though. It’s been that coupled with outright corruption. I knew this would be the end of him when it came out.
 
Acole9 said:
:lol: No chance. Save your energy, he's going nowhere. This cabinet are untouchable, no one is getting sacked. In a normal world he probably would have to but for some reason this government are so popular with the general public so they won't care.
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He had no chance
 
acnumber9 said:
Just as I thought. All the corruption, all the people dead. Who cares about that? He kissed somebody so he has to go.
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Framing them as separate things is rather missing the point.

Coladangelo had recieved £15k as part of an oversight role (which involved scrutinising the decisions of the Department of Health) that Hancock, the Minister for Health, had appointed her to. Meanwhile her brother was an executive at a company that won a string of NHS contracts.

Hancock not revealing that this was someone he was in a sexual relationship is obviously immensely inappropriate and not because of any moral squeemishness over him cheating on his wife. Him handing someone he was fecking £15k to oversee (in part) his performance as Minister for Health is a problem.
 
acnumber9 said:
Just as I thought. All the corruption, all the people dead. Who cares about that? He kissed somebody so he has to go.
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Don't underestimate the power of his wife in all of this. I imagine she's given him some clear ultimatums.
 
Good to see Starmer finally say that it was time for Hancock to go. The PPE shortage, care home deaths, delays in test and trace/the extortionate price of the woeful app and contracts to mates were not the time, so glad this much bigger and important scandal is.
 
Dobba said:
Good to see Starmer finally say that it was time for Hancock to go. The PPE shortage, care home deaths, delays in test and trace/the extortionate price of the woeful app and contracts to mates were not the time, so glad this much bigger and important scandal is.
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Nice of him to make his comments after the event.
 
sullydnl said:
Framing them as separate things is rather missing the point.

Coladangelo had recieved £15k as part of an oversight role (which involved scrutinising the decisions of the Department of Health) that Hancock, the Minister for Health, had appointed her to. Meanwhile her brother was an executive at a company that won a string of NHS contracts.

Hancock not revealing that this was someone he was in a sexual relationship is obviously immensely inappropriate and not because of any moral squeemishness over him cheating on his wife. Him handing someone he was fecking £15k to oversee (in part) his performance as Minister for Health is a problem.
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It’s not. We didn’t need any more evidence of his corruption. It’s been piling up for months. He’s gone because of the Covid rules he’s broken and not because of the corruption. The fact it was just more corruption is secondary.
 
Hancock really deserved his own thread. We are talking about a Westminster's legend.

Just disappointed.
 
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