Councillors call for Matt Hancock to quit as MP

Matt Hancock’s resignation as health secretary was apparently not enough for some local Tory councillors, who want him removed as their MP.

Ian Houlder, a Conservative on West Suffolk Council, told The Telegraph that he was “furious” that Hancock had been “pontificating to everybody in the country” while breaking social-distancing rules with his aide.

The MP stepped down from his cabinet role on Saturday, a day after The Sun published video images showing Hancock kissing aide Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office. In a statement, he said: “I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances. I have let people down and am very sorry.”

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But despite that apology, Houlder has written to his local association chair demanding that Hancock faces deselection by the party ahead of the next election, reports The Telegraph.

The councillor told the paper how he was unable to enter a church for a family member’s funeral owing to Covid restrictions. “Think of people who haven’t been able to bury their mothers or fathers,” he said. “There he is, just groping away, hands everywhere, tongues everywhere, out of his bubble.”

Houlder added: “I think there should probably be a by-election. I don’t think he should cling on, hoping that people’s memories fade.”

Another Tory councillor, Terry Clements, agreed that Hancock would find it “impossible to carry on” as a backbencher. He told ITV News that the MP would have to “think what is good for the country” after putting himself in an “untenable situation”.

However, Clements said he sympathised with Hancock, who he described as a “good chap after all”, adding: “Everyone makes mistakes but that was a catastrophic mistake to make.”

Hancock won more than 65% of votes in the 2019 election, with “33,842 putting a cross next to his name”, but constituents are now considering whether they continue to support him, reports the local East Anglian Daily Times.

One resident said voters might think twice at the next election. “I think this will definitely put people off him. You have to lead by example,” he said. But another disagreed, saying: “People often vote for the party, so you may hate someone’s guts but you’ll still vote for them.”

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that details of Hancock’s separation from his wife had “enraged” party members in West Suffolk, “where insiders predicted Hancock might be deselected as an MP at the next election”. However, Andy Drummond, deputy chair of West Suffolk Conservatives, told the East Anglian Daily Times later that day that he had “no idea” where that information came from.

One unnamed Tory councillor told The Telegraph: “I think there’s a sense of sadness for the family and disappointment, but there’s not outrage. There is support for Matt as a constituency MP and that seems to be holding up.”

Another said Hancock’s wife, Martha, was “very much at the centre of his constituency” but that people were still “processing” the events. “Matt should be given time and space to allow him to manage what are personal issues. He also deserves a bit of a break after a gruelling year with the pandemic,” they said.

The West Suffolk Conservatives are yet to give an official statement.