Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the Matt Hancock scandal broke. The man himself has been keeping a very low public profile since his resignation as Health Secretary on 26 June but already there is talk about an improbable return to government.
Boris Johnson’s letter accepting Hancock’s resignation ended by claiming ‘your contribution to public service is far from over’ and the latter certainly seems to believe that, judging by a report in the Mail on Sunday which suggested he has appealed to current and former Ministers ‘for advice on how to fight back.’ Hancock’s ‘friends’ are quoted as worrying about how, bereft of a ministerial salary, he will fund his ‘new life’ with Gina Coladangelo on a mere backbencher’s income of nearly £82,000 given that companies aren’t exactly lining up to bestow directorships on the disgraced onetime Tory leadership contender. He could always try his sister’s shredding firm of course…
A return to the front bench then seems the most likely way of replenishing his finances ahead of what will presumably be an expensive divorce suit. Repairing his damaged image among the Tory faithful would seem an obvious first step, with the rubber-chicken circuit of local associations being a well-trodden route to rehabilitation. The eagle-eyed Patrick Maguire of the Times has already spotted Hancock is scheduled to speak to Chipping Barnet Conservatives on 9 September in what will presumably be their best attended talk to date.
In such circumstances, Steerpike thought it only fair to see what the public makes of the proposition of a Hancock comeback. A poll for The Spectator by Redfield and Wilton surveyed 1,500 eligible voters and found that 95 per cent were aware to some extent of the ‘recent scandal surrounding the breaching of social distancing rules by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock and his aide Gina Coladangelo.’ Just 5 per cent were ‘not aware at all’ compared to 59 per cent ‘very aware,’ 26 per cent ‘moderately aware’ and 10 per cent who were ‘somewhat’ aware.
Unsurprisingly, asked if they would ‘support or oppose’ Hancock returning as a government minister in a different department, half of voters were against the move, with 33 per cent being ‘strongly’ opposed and a further 17 per cent merely being ‘opposed.’ As one pollster told Mr S: ’50 per cent of the public against something is in landslide territory.’ Almost a quarter, 24 per cent, said they neither supported nor opposed a Hancock comeback while 7 per cent did not know. A fifth of voters would welcome the move however; 5 per cent apparently ‘strongly support’ the West Suffolk MP’s return to government while another 15 per cent said they ‘support’ it.
Steerpike suggests to the former Health Secretary that given those photographs of him grappling with Gina, it might be a fair few months before the rest of the public forget about his social distancing shenanigans.
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