Last Wednesday (10/05), students gathered to listen to former health secretary Matt Hancock as part of an event hosted by Trinity Politics Society (TPS). 

The event witnessed an array of questions aimed at the Christ’s alum, including topics such as his time as health secretary, his views on the former prime minister, and his experience on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity. 

However, in an email sent to attendees the day prior (09/05), he was not going to be “answering questions regarding his private life or the circumstances surrounding his resignation” – a likely nod to his affair with then-aide Gina Coladangelo that breached his own social distancing guidance and culminated in his departure from office.

TPS were told by Hancock’s representatives not to take any recordings of the event. Hancock was initially supposed to make an appearance at the beginning of March, but the event was delayed after his visit coincided with the leak of over 100,000 of his WhatsApp messages. 

The interviewer, TPS President Adam Shakoor, told Varsity that Hancock admitted that he lent Boris Johnson his support for party leader “for political gain: he wanted a position in Cabinet, [and] the momentum was behind Boris”. His continued support for Johnson came down to realpolitik: it was preferable to stay close to Johnson in order to influence him.

Shakoor also recalled that Hancock spoke about the pandemic at length. He reportedly stated that he wished he had overruled the “international scientific consensus” more, on decisions that have since been proven wrong. He used his own example of imposing isolation measures on travellers to Britain from Wuhan during the early stages of the pandemic, when the rest of the world wasn’t. 

Shakoor recalled that Hancock also wished he had “trusted [his] gut about [Covid] being transmissible through air and asymptomatically,” and that he had taken further precautions than suggested by the scientific consensus at the time. This comment was made in reference to the controversial decision made in March 2020 to discharge thousands of patients back into care homes from NHS hospitals.

When it came to the peak of the pandemic, Shakoor pointed out that the UK had the highest excess deaths among under-65s in Western Europe, but Hancock responded that the statistics didn’t account for elderly deaths. He then went onto use the phrase ‘all lives matter’, and though it was intended to make reference to the statistics, the comment was met with audible gasps from the audience.

Following this, he spoke candidly of his post-ministerial life, including his time on I’m A Celebrity, for which he had the whip removed. 

For Hancock, his participation in the show was participation in politics through alternative means: “politics isn’t all just The Times and BBC Radio 4”. “You need to reach the people, and the people watch ITV,” Shakoor recounted. Multiple attendees described this as Hancock “insinuating that people who watch ITV don’t know anything about politics.”

When contacted by Varsity, a spokesperson for Matt Hancock said:  "Matt had a very enjoyable discussion with the Trinity College Politics Society, but this report isn't accurate."

The spokesperson did not elaborate further.