KATE Garraway fought back tears as she confronted Matt Hancock over his decision to enter I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here last year.
The former health secretary was appearing on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain on ITV when he was questioned by presenter Kate Garraway.
Kate spoke of being unable to visit her husband Derek Draper in hospital as he battled Covid because she was following the Covid guidelines set out by Hancock, who would later be revealed to have broken his own guidance.
She said the former health secretary was being held to account for entering the celebrity jungle, where he was paid £320,000, because he was only there due to being health secretary during the Covid pandemic.
'I couldn't visit Derek in hospital, he couldn't see his kids.'@kategarraway questions @MattHancock on why he decided to go into the jungle and release a book before the Covid inquiry. pic.twitter.com/NgnfScFYmL
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) January 31, 2023
Kate said: “I suppose the problem is that because you were health secretary and because at that time I could not visit Derek in hospital, he could not see his kids, thousands of others could not go and see the people they loved for various reasons, because they were following the guidelines and it was all very muddled for us at that point.
“It gives the impressions that you still do not get why they are cross.
“I am sure there are many other people that went into the jungle when you did that maybe got more, maybe got less, but they are holding you to more account because you are probably only there because you were health secretary at the time.
“You made the decision to go in at a time before you had answered to an inquiry, and at a time when people still feel very raw.”
Responding to Kate, Matt Hancock said he wanted to “contribute” to make sure the next pandemic isn’t handled as poorly as the Covid pandemic by the Government.
He said: “The reason I think it is important I wrote the book, with the enquiry coming later is I have to be completely open about what I did, why I took those decisions.
“If I can contribute anything now to making sure this does not happen as badly when it is making sure we really learn the lessons about how it happened because there will be another one.”
