Shameless Tory Matt Hancock is touting himself as an after-dinner speaker for Christmas dos – charging £2,500 an hour.
The former Health Secretary, who sparked fury by shirking his MP duties to appear on I’m A Celebrity, has signed up with one of the UK’s top agencies.
Hancock, 44, is on the books at Chartwell Speakers alongside Graham Norton and Michael McIntyre, and his blurb on its site says: “As Health Secretary, Matt was central to the nation’s response to the biggest pandemic in over 100 years.”
But there is no mention of the catastrophic Covid failings under his watch – which included 25,000 untested hospital patients being sent to care homes.
Astonishingly, in his new book, Pandemic Diaries, he blames a spike in deaths on carers – writing in a May 2021 entry: “The vast majority of infections were brought in from the wider community, mainly by staff.”
But his claim was blasted by National Care Association chief executive Nadra Ahmed, who said: “The account bears no resemblance of the facts.”
Hancock quit the Cabinet after he was caught breaking his own social distancing rules by smooching and fondling mistress Gina Coladangelo, 44, in his office.
Public records show Hancock netted £10,000 for four hours’ work by addressing bankers weeks before his jungle jaunt. And he hopes to rake in more with anecdotes from his time on the ITV show.
Lobby Akinnola of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, who lost his dad, said: “While he’s raking in money, we’re left reflecting on whether our loved ones might still be with us if someone else had been in charge.”
Labour MP Justin Madder added: “The only public speaking event Matt Hancock should be doing outside Parliament is on the stand giving evidence to the Covid inquiry.”
Hancock finished third on I’m A Celeb, won by Jill Scott, and was reportedly paid a £400,000 fee. Meanwhile, in a book excerpt revealed last night, the MP said telling wife Martha he cheated was the “very worst conversation of my life”.
He told of feeling “wretched” as he fessed up after a call from a newspaper that learned of the affair and falling in love with Ms Coladangelo “felt outside my control”.
