Matt Hancock

Matthew John David Hancock was born on 2 October 1978 in Chester, Cheshire, to Michael Hancock and Shirley Hills (now Carter).[3] Hancock attended Farndon County Primary School, in Farndon, Cheshire, and the independent King's School, Chester. He took A-levels in maths, physics, computing and economics.[4] He later studied computing at the further education college, West Cheshire College.[5][6] He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and graduated with a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and went on to Christ's College, Cambridge, to earn an MPhil degree in Economics.[6][7] Hancock became a member of the Conservative Party in 1999.[8]

After university, Hancock briefly worked for his family's computer software company and for a backbench Conservative MP,[4] before moving to London to work as an economist at the Bank of England, specialising in the housing market. In 2005, he became an economic adviser to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, later becoming Osborne's chief of staff.[7][9]

Hancock was selected as the Conservative candidate for West Suffolk in January 2010. He narrowly won the contest, defeating Natalie Elphicke (solicitor and wife of politician Charlie Elphicke, who later succeeded him as MP for Dover), by 88 votes to 81 in the final ballot.[10] He was elected as the constituency's MP at the 2010 general election with 24,312 votes, 13,050 votes ahead of Liberal Democrat candidate Belinda Brooks-Gordon.[11] In June, Hancock was elected to the Public Accounts Committee, the select committee responsible for overseeing government expenditures to ensure they are effective and honest.[12] He served on this committee until November 2012. Hancock has also served on the Standards and Privileges Committee between October 2010 and December 2012.[13]

In January 2013, he was accused of dishonesty by Daybreak presenter Matt Barbet after claiming he had been excluded from a discussion about apprentices after turning up "just 30 seconds late".[14] Barbet said Hancock knew he was "much more than a minute late" and he should have arrived half an hour beforehand to prepare for the interview. An activist who was due to appear with Hancock expressed surprise that "a minister whose Government berates 'shirkers' couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to defend his own policy".[14]

Following the appointment of Jeremy Hunt to the position of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Hancock was appointed to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 9 July 2018.[31]

In November 2018, Hancock was criticised after appearing to endorse a mobile phone health app marketed by the subscription health service company Babylon in the Evening Standard. Babylon allegedly sponsored the newspaper article. Justin Madders wrote to Theresa May accusing Hancock of repeatedly endorsing the products of a company that receives NHS funds for patients it treats, which contravenes ministerial guidelines. The ministerial code includes that ministers should not "normally accept invitations to act as patrons of, or otherwise offer support to, pressure groups or organisations dependent in whole or in part on government funding".[32]

In April 2019, Hancock, who had previously said the NHS would face "no privatisation on my watch", was criticised for allowing 21 NHS contracts worth £127 million to be tendered.[33]

Hancock continued in his role as Health Secretary in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet. He supported the prorogation of parliament in 2019 by Johnson which he had previously opposed while running for the leadership of the Conservative Party earlier in the year.[34] The prorogation was later ruled on 24 September as unlawful by the Supreme Court.[35]

In a September 2019 Channel 4 News interview, Hancock was asked to respond to allegations Boris Johnson had, at a private lunch in 1999, groped the leg of journalist Charlotte Edwardes under a table. Edwardes also claimed that Johnson did the same to another woman at the same private lunch. In his reply to the Channel 4 News question, Hancock said of Charlotte Edwardes, "I know Charlotte well and I entirely trust what she has to say. I know her and I know her to be trustworthy", a view shared by fellow Conservative MP Amber Rudd. Both Johnson and anonymous Downing Street officials denied the allegation.[36][37][38]

Hancock drew criticism in November 2019, following the total seclusion of 18-year-old Bethany, an autistic teenager, for almost 3 years in the tiny rooms of psychiatric facilities across Britain. The minister publicly apologised "for the things that have gone wrong in her care" and claimed her case in particular was "incredibly difficult and complex". Bethany's case attracted national attention towards the detention of hundreds of young people living with autism or other learning disabilities in Britain, and demanded an inquiry into the mental health system by a parliamentary committee.[39]

Hancock married Martha Hoyer Millar, an osteopath, in 2006.[3] She is a granddaughter of Frederick Millar, 1st Baron Inchyra.[55] They have a daughter and two sons.[7][56] They live in Little Thurlow in his West Suffolk parliamentary constituency.[57] Hancock has an older sister and a brother.[58] He has dyslexia.[59]

Hancock trained as a jockey in 2012 and won a horse race in his constituency town of Newmarket.[4]

Hancock supports Newcastle United, and auctioned his 'pride and joy' signed team shirt to raise money for the NHS in May 2020.[60][61]

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• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou