Whereas once ministers were content to resign with merely an exchange of letters, the tech-savvy Matt Hancock always preferred to be a pioneer.
The Health Secretary quit tonight after two days of mounting outrage at the revelations he had a fling with a taxpayer-funded aide he brought into government and did so in classic Hancock style, releasing the first ministerial resignation video, as befits a former culture minister who once released his own app.
The jargon-filled clip is replete with phrases like ‘build back better’ but was suspiciously short of an apology. He said:
I have been to see the Prime Minister to resign as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made – that you have made. Those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them, and that’s why I’ve got to resign. I want to thank people for their incredible sacrifices and what they’ve done. Everybody working in the NHS, across social care, everyone involved in the vaccine programme and, frankly, everybody in this country who has risen to the challenges that we’ve seen over this past 18 months. I’m very proud of what we’ve done to protect the NHS at the peak, to deliver that vaccine rollout – one of the fastest in the world, and I look forward to supporting the government and the Prime Minister from the backbenches to make sure that we can get out of this pandemic. We’re so close to the end, and then build back better so that this country can fulfil its potential which is so great, and I will do that with all of my heart.
So much for Hancock’s half hour – this one merely lasted 79 seconds. You can watch the clip below:
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