The first of tonight’s polls: By 58% to 25% those sampled say Hancock should resign – politicalbetti

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The first of tonight’s polls: By 58% to 25% those sampled say Hancock should resign – politicalbetting.com

??Over half UK adults say Matt Hancock should resign over affair with aid??Should resign 58%Should not resign 25% This includes 46% 2019 Conservative voters. pic.twitter.com/yp4r0DDb6o

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SandyRentool

Cock gets the chop: A government in transition.

alex_

Bit of a harsh red card...

GIN1138

Cock by name. Cock by nature

rottenborough

Big reshuffle? Or just slot in a replacement?

TheScreamingEagles

FPT

dixiedean said:

So let me understand.
On Thursday night Hancock announced he's leaving his family, for his Mistress, who is on the government payroll, on his say so.
And he, and the PM thought he could brazen it out?
We need to be told exactly how long this has been going on.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this is a Charles/Camilla thing and has been going on and for years/decade.

Like Hancock, Prince Charles went to the University of Cambridge.

What is it with the finest university in the world producing so many fornicators and adulterers?

dixiedean

Four and counting.

TheScreamingEagles

Wales, more f*cked than a stepmom on Pornhub.

Alistair

Cock out.

ydoethur

A thread that turned out to be out of date even before it was published.

Things really are moving very fast.

ClippP

I think he's gone now, hasn't he?

TheScreamingEagles

I've really enjoyed this match, pity it had to end.

BigRich

Black_Rook said:

Vaccine diplomacy...

China threatened to withhold vaccines from Ukraine for human rights scrutiny - reports

The Associated Press reports that China threatened to withhold 500,000 COVID vaccines from Ukraine if the country went through with plans to cosign a statement calling for more investigations into what is happening in Xinjiang.

More than a million Uighur Muslims are said to be in so called "reeducation camps" in the region. Sky News reported this week on how Uighur cemeteries are being destroyed in the region.

Two diplomats familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that Ukraine pulled out of the plan to call for immediate access for independent inspectors to Xinjiang following the pressure.

Ukraine purchased 1.9 million doses of the CoronaVac jab from China's Sinovac Biotech. As of early May, Ukraine had received 1.2 million doses.

More than 40 countries supported the statement, which was presented by Canada at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday.

One of the Western diplomats called it sign of "bare-knuckles" diplomacy by China. The other diplomat cited "reports of significant pressure in Kyiv," adding, "last night the delegation told us they needed to pull out".

Ukraine did the right thing, and we should support them.

I hope we where one of the 40 nations to support the statement, but ether way, we should be sending them at least some of the AZ we are not using, and do it very quickly.

Ukraine is in a perilous situation with even less vaccination that Russia, and should be helped anyway, but this adds an extra reason to help.

MikeSmithson

New thread

TheScreamingEagles

NEW THREAD

Black_Rook

rottenborough said:

Big reshuffle? Or just slot in a replacement?

Unless there's anyone Johnson is desperate to get rid of - and he's shown no inclination to chop the Education Secretary throughout all of this - then you would've thought a slot-in, which would enable a reshuffle (and the consequent increase in the numbers of rejected, rebellious MPs) to be put off for as long as possible.

contrarian

Many politicians will doubtless be crowing, but I do not see why.

They were Hancock's facilitators. They are Johnson's facilitators. They gave a cabal of politicians extraordinary powers that, unsurprisingly, have been abused. As they were always going to be.

This does not just reflect badly on the Hancock and the government. It reflects badly on all the MPs who voted, several times, to endow these powers.

This is as much their fault as it is Hancock's.

FrancisUrquhart

rottenborough said:

Big reshuffle? Or just slot in a replacement?

Boris has kicked two previous planned big reshuffles into the long grass...hence why the idiot at education is still in place.

BigRich

rottenborough said:

Big reshuffle? Or just slot in a replacement?

given the success of the of the vaccine role out, which is coming to an end now Nadhim Zahawi the vaccine minister, looks a good pick for me,

Yes its a big promotion, but it would set a principle of do well - get promoted, which is good, his old job is coming to an end so this would be a simple things to do, no need for a big reshuffle, and his past job will have given him some experience of dealing with the NHS/heath department, so less time needed to get him fully briefed up at what is a busy time for the NHS.

I spoke to some people who where at his selection to be the Tory candidate, apparently he came across as head and shoulders above all the rest, one chap who was on the committee told me, a (safe) seat like ours has an obligation to find people who can be good cabinet ministers.

kle4

Somewhat to my surprise my housemate, entirely without prompting from me as I have only just seen the news on the resignation, said Hancock was gone and that was a shame, as they liked him. They said everyone they know is a hypocrite (I presume that includes me, but I try not to take offence) so he shouldn't have had to resign.

kle4

TheScreamingEagles said:

Yeah Hancock is done.

Matt Hancock faces an investigation after using a personal email account instead of an official address during the pandemic in a breach of government guidelines.

Since March last year the health secretary has routinely used a private account to conduct government business, concealing information from his own officials and potentially the public, according to documents obtained by The Sunday Times.

It means that the government does not hold records of much of Hancock’s decision-making, including negotiating multi-million pound PPE contracts, setting up the £37 billion Test and Trace programme and overseeing the government’s care homes strategy.

The disclosure of Hancock’s secret account appears in minutes of a meeting between senior officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in December.

Cabinet Office guidance states that ministers should use official email in order to ensure that there is evidence of important decisions and proper internal scrutiny.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hancock-used-private-email-address-to-do-government-business-nrkrgss2t

Why do people still think they'll get away with this?

kle4

Big_G_NorthWales said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

rottenborough said:

Beth Rigby
@BethRigby
Told that Hancock has left his wife for Gina Coladangelo. Friends of the former Health Secretary say his relationship with Gina is 'recent but serious'.

Yeh, right. Recent my arse as Jim Royle would say.

He left her on Thursday night just before the story broke

A cynic asks: just after a reporter from the Sun rang for a comment?

Probably

Not that I can imagine it to be an easy conversation to have at the best of times, but "Look, I'm leaving you and am telling you now because it'll be in the media tomorrow so you may want to turn off your phone, and now I have to tell the PM" is probably a real gut punch.