There was a country-wide laugh of disbelief today when it was announced that former health secretary Matt Hancock would be coming to TV screens near us in this year’s I’m a Celebrity.
The disgraced ex-member of Boris Johnson’s cabinet is seeking to redeem himself after being caught breaking his own rules during lockdown.
However, it’ll take a lot more than mucking in with cooking and tales of falling in love sat on a camp bed with Chris Moyles and Mike Tindall for disabled people to forget just how much this man destroyed our community during the early days of the pandemic.
From forcing disabled people into care homes, do not resuscitate notices on disabled people and schools remaining open while COVID numbers rose in children to making disabled people to shield for almost 9 months whilst not calling for stricter restrictions on mask-wearing or outdoor socialising.
Earlier today, I flippantly called Hancock a mass murderer of disabled people in a rage-filled voice note to a friend and her reaction was “he's a what?!”
While he may not be a literal serial killer, his actions, or lack of, as health minister led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of disabled people.
The response to the news was as expected, a resounding “absolutely not”. He was suspended from the Tory party and his fellow members didn’t have much nice to say.
Deputy Chair of West Suffolk Conservative association Andy Drummond press "I’m looking forward to him eating a kangaroo’s penis”
It seems another big motivation for him doing the show is to promote his work as a Dyslexia ambassador. A political ally told The Mirror “Matt has told the whips in Parliament and he will use his time in the jungle to promote his dyslexia campaign.”
As a neurodivergent person, I will absolutely not be allowing him to rehabilitate himself as an amazing campaigner for disabled people’s rights, when his decisions as health minister negatively impacted us in the worst possible ways.
Disabled people, our bereaved family members and the community will not allow him to redeem himself by burning rice and sitting around the campfire missing home.
Disabled people accounted for 6 in 10 covid deaths in England in 2020 and 2021, while Hancock broke his own rules.
The strongest response came from Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK who are called for the inquiry into the handling of the pandemic response by the government.
“Matt Hancock isn’t a ‘celebrity’, he’s the former health secretary who oversaw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid-19 whilst breaking his own lockdown rules.
“The fact that he is trying to cash in on his terrible legacy, rather than showing some humility or seeking to reflect on the appalling consequences of his time in Government says it all about the sort of person he is.”
“Our families were ripped apart by Matt Hancock’s actions, and turning on the TV to see him being paraded around as a joke is sickening.”
By appearing on the show, Hancock will be out of the country during the preliminary stages of the inquiry, suggesting he’s hoping it will mean he won’t have to answer for his crimes at this stage.
The campaign is calling for ITV to remove Hancock from the show, and they’ve also set up a petition.
“If he had any respect for bereaved families, he would be sharing his private emails with the Covid Inquiry, not eating bugs on TV. Then again, perhaps if those emails came to light no TV station would touch him with a barge pole.
Matt Hancock’s negligence and refusal to act were responsible for an untold amount of disabled people dying during the pandemic. No amount of eating kangaroo testicles on TV will be enough — that isn’t to say we shouldn’t all make him do it though.
