A woman who lost her mum to coronavirus has slammed Matt Hancock for signing up to appear on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
Ann O'Connor, 54, lost her mum Elsie Matthewson, 86, when she contracted covid-19 during the first national lockdown. Elsie died at the University Hospital of North Durham on April 22, 2020.
Ann, who lives in the Gilesgate area of Durham, said she did not get to say goodbye to her mum, who lived in a care home in Durham, due to abiding by the lockdown rules imposed by the Government.
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She said that despite Matt Hancock 's claims to have put "a protective ring" around care homes, the virus got in.
Following Elsie's death, Ann remembers seeing the former Health Secretary on the news, talking about the measures the Government were taking. She said she felt distraught and furious that they had failed to protect her mother.
The MP for West Suffolk stepped down from his role in June 2021 after he was exposed for breaking social distancing rules. Matt Hancock was caught on CCTV canoodling with his aide Gina Coladangelo, when they were both married.
Ann said she felt "sick" when she heard Matt Hancock was set to appear on one of her favourite TV programmes. She has watched the ITV show for around 20 years but is refusing to tune in this year as she does not want to see him in the jungle.
Ann said: "I felt sick to my stomach: one, he doesn't deserve to be taken over to Australia and be paid for a holiday, and two, I don't want to see his face on a show that I have watched every year. Seeing him brings it all back.
"He should be spending his time helping with the Covid inquiry. At the end of the day, I believe he made a complete mess of the whole thing, and decent people who mess up put their hands up, and say 'sorry, I did this, I thought it was right but it wasn't good enough' - and then they keep a low profile. They don't go on reality TV and make a load of money.
"Why on earth does he think he's a celebrity? He's not a celebrity. To me a celebrity is somebody people look up to and admire and kids want to be like them. I don't want to watch him taking his hat off and spinning around!
"He will go on there, get a free holiday to Australia and get to see something I'll probably never see in my life time - and he gets paid for it!"
"I have watched the show for the last 20 odd years. I I have got it on record but until they turn around and say he's not in it I can't watch it. If I tried to watch it I would end up shouting at the telly and getting myself worked up.
"I would cause my lupus to get worse, I have got Fibromyalgia on top of that, and I would just end up in more pain. I won't give him the satisfaction of putting me through more pain than he already has."
The mum-of-two said is one of more than 42,000 people who have signed an online petition calling for Matt Hancock to be stopped from appearing on the popular reality TV show. The petition, created by Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, is called 'He's no celebrity - stop Matt Hancock appearing on I'm a Celebrity'.
Elsie, who worked as a seamstress and later a carer, suffered from dementia. Ann said she had been "strong" and "a fighter" through a number of illnesses and had beat sepsis twice.
Ann, who also has two grandchildren, added: "Normally I keep my opinions to myself but now it's got to the point where I think why should I be quiet.
"I shouldn't have to accept that because she was 86 she would die anyway. For god knows how many years she worked her fingers to the bone for this country.
"I saw her the last week in February and the next time I saw her she was in her coffin. I never saw her, I never spoke to her. They hadn't thought about using iPads and phones that early on.
"I was literally sat holding the phone. I took the phone everywhere with me and I didn't sleep on the night time. It was just a nightmare. Our goodbye was when we went to see her at the funeral home. We could only have 12 people at her funeral."
Ann, who worked as a optical assistant during the pandemic, has described Matt Hancock as a "complete hypocrite" for breaking the rules.
In relation to his affair, Ann added: "I had to go to work where I had the general public coming in and out and he was sat up in his office with his mistress.
"Why did he have time to actually do that when he's supposed to be trying to work out, and sort out, the health system. We were stood clapping at the door for the NHS!"
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