Matt Hancock, once trusted to help steer Britain through the pandemic, has faced years of scrutiny over his handling of the crisis and personal scandals. The Covid Inquiry's rejection of his claim that care homes were surrounded by a “protective ring” has brought renewed attention to his record.
‘Protective ring’ or ‘generational slaughter in care homes’
The inquiry branded government inaction “inexcusable” and heard that more than 43,000 deaths involving Covid were recorded in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022. The then-Tory health secretary repeatedly claimed a “protective ring” had been thrown around care homes from the start of the outbreak.
Evidence heard by the inquiry painted a different picture. Early in the pandemic, hospital patients were rapidly discharged into care homes to free up NHS beds, but until mid-April 2020 there was no policy requiring all patients to be tested before discharge. The inquiry also criticised the failure to advise homes to isolate patients arriving without symptoms. A civil servant described the toll as a “generational slaughter within care homes”, while the hearings included a description of a “cull of older people who could no longer contribute to the society”.
Bereaved families previously called Hancock’s phrase a “sickening lie” and a “joke”. Hancock insisted his department had made “a big team effort, and we were all pulling as hard as we possibly could to save lives - that’s what I meant by saying that we tried to throw a protective ring around”.
The report concluded this “does not accurately reflect the lack of action taken to protect care homes across the UK in March and the first half of April 2020”. Around 25,000 patients were discharged from hospitals into care homes between March 17 and April 15, 2020, a period when “care homes received insufficient protection at the time they most needed it”.
Andrea Egan, general secretary of UNISON, said: “The Conservative government’s shameful response had devastating consequences for care staff and those depending on them in a sector already in crisis. Matt Hancock’s boast of a protective ring around care homes can’t hide the disgraceful truth. Staff were left without protective kit, appropriate testing, or even sick pay. Some social care staff even lost their lives looking after those in need. We owe it to them to ensure the same systemic failures never occur again.”
Hancock sold families of care home residents 'cruel lie'
Families who lost loved ones demanded accountability and warned that promises must be followed by action. Jean Adamson, whose father Cleo died on April 15, 2020, after contracting Covid in his care home, spoke at The Kia Oval in south London following publication. She said: “Today’s report is a devastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country’s history.
“It shows that the government knew the care sector was extremely vulnerable to a pandemic and yet did nothing. Failing to act until it was too late. And It shows that Matt Hancock’s claim to have thrown a protective ring around care homes was a cruel lie.”
Cleo, full name Aldrick Cleophas Adamson, was a Windrush pioneer who arrived from Barbados in 1956 and worked for London Underground. Following a stroke in 2018, he moved into a nursing home before visiting restrictions during the pandemic meant his family could only see him through his window, unable to comfort him or hold his hand.
Jean added: "When he became ill, we could only see him through his care home window. I was not even able to hold his hand. He died on 15 April 2020. Like so many thousands, he died alone, isolated – a victim of covid, but also of government negligence. That is the consequence of social care system treated as a second-class service – too difficult for politicians to reform, too easy to ignore. Our family members paid the price. That is why social care reform cannot wait. The system is still not fit for purpose.”
Explosive Whatsapps haunt Hancock whose caught boasting of Covid cover-up
Private messages exposed concerns about care-home deaths, ministers’ public statements and Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme. In April 2020, care minister Helen Whately warned Hancock that care-home death figures were “not good”. He replied: “OK”.
The inquiry also saw exchanges between Professor Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance about claims that ministers had not known early on that people without symptoms could spread Covid. Sir Chris wrote: “We will have to put up with quite a bit of this.”
Other messages revealed Hancock’s concerns about Eat Out To Help Out, which offered discounted meals in August 2020. Writing to Simon Case on August 24, he said: “Just want to let you know directly that we have had lots of feedback that Eat our (sic) to help out is causing problems in our intervention areas. I’ve kept it out of the news but it’s serious. So please please lets not allow the economic success of the scheme to lead to its extension”.
Case asked: “Have you told Rishi? I don’t think he can afford to extend it!” Hancock’s response included the admission: “we’ve been protecting them in the comms”.
Hancock broke his own Covid guidance as he ‘fell in love’
Hancock resigned as health secretary after leaked CCTV showed him embracing adviser Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office. The footage was recorded on May 6, 2021, while guidance urged people to stay two metres apart and avoid “face to face contact”. At the time, both Hancock and Coladangelo were married with children and indoor meetings between people from different households or bubbles were banned, unless they were "reasonably necessary" for work.
He initially held on to his job, with then-PM Boris Johnson criticised for failing to sack him. During his time on I'm A Celebrity in 2022, Hancock addressed the affair after being questioned by fellow campmates. His response sparked fury, as he said: "It's obviously been really tough. I messed up and I fessed up. I resigned. It's no excuse, but I fell in love, right? That also had a lot of other consequences as well."
Discussing the affair on a podcast, Hancock said: “We fell in love and that’s something that was completely outside of my control. Of course I regret the pain that’s caused and the very, very public nature - anybody who has been through this knows how difficult it is, how painful it is.”
He added: “It all happened quite quickly, It actually happened after the rules were lifted, but the guidance was still in place. So I’m not trying to claim that, I hold no bitterness about this because I broke the rules, I fess up, I broke the guidance.”
An investigation into the CCTV leak was later closed without anyone being prosecuted.
Hancock slammed for ‘dodgy Covid PPE contracts’
Hancock also faced anger over the awarding of multimillion-pound contracts for protective equipment. At the inquiry, he defended the “VIP lane”, which fast-tracked offers from suppliers with political connections for consideration.
Former nurse Rachel Hext, who caught Covid at work and was left disabled by long Covid, condemned the handling of contracts. Her symptoms included brain fog, extreme fatigue, nerve damage and deafness in one ear. Speaking in 2025, Rachel said: “It was wholly inappropriate to award dodgy contracts when the nation was at absolute breaking point.
“The people undertook these contracts did so on false pretences, they were neither geared up to manufacture PPE to the right spec or to cope with the highly pressurised demand that was needed. The catastrophic failure to deliver good quality PPE in a timely fashion meant that thousands of frontline staff contracted Covid.
“Let’s be explicitly clear on this, these Covid heroes who stood up and worked through warzone like conditions, either died or were left disabled by it. Now they have been abandoned to their fate whilst Matt Hancock pats himself on the back for a job well done. He’s a national disgrace and there are thousands of us who will never forgive him for his negligence.”
Cashing in with book, I'm a Celebrity and Celebrity SAS
Hancock’s move into reality TV brought another backlash, with politicians and viewers criticising his decision to enter I’m A Celebrity in 2022 while still serving as an MP. He declared a £320,000 payment for the appearance and donated £10,000 to charity - around 3% of that sum.
The same year he appeared in the jungle, Hancock also attempted to launch a book, which many saw in poor taste, even before the Covid Inquiry. Matt Hancock's Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain's Battle Against Covid entered the Neilson book charts at number 191 in early December 2022 - but within weeks plummeted so sharply it didn't even make the top 1,000. Reviewers called it an exercise in self-justification and score settling.
In it, Hancock claims the successful vaccination rollout was single-handedly down to him. He also paints a picture that all the disasters of the pandemic, including the horrific handling of care home residents, were somebody else's fault. Comparing him to Alan Partridge, one reviewer said simply “his ego got in the way” adding: “Most people I speak to hate him.”
Hancock was widely criticised for bringing it out ahead of any official inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic. He was also derided for not being able to write his own version of events by himself for the diary, which purports to give “the inside story” from his perspective.
Hancock also appeared on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, broadcast in 2023, where he was punched in the face by former footballer Jermaine Pennant during a boxing drill. Before taking on the challenges, he suggested Westminster had prepared him, saying: “I’m quite used to being in a hostile environment. Politics by its very nature has hostility built into it.”
The pair faced each other in a military training exercise known as milling. Reflecting on the clash, Hancock said: “It didn’t hurt nearly as much as I expected actually, being smacked in the face.” Instructor Jason Fox also delivered his own verdict, calling him “Hancock with a silent Han.”
