Thread by @allthecitizens

A report in @TheSun today of @MattHancock's affair with lobbyist Gina Coladangelo led to calls for the Health Secretary to resign. Boris Johnson now considers the matter into the affair “closed”, but what about other cases involving @MattHancock? @allthecitizens has the receipts.

The affair is a private matter. But it is a matter of clear public interest that Mrs Coladangelo was made a non-exec director at DHSC last November. What’s more Hancock personally sponsored a parliamentary pass for her in 2019.
theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

Questions have also been raised over the clients of her lobbying firm, Luther Pendragon, inc Accenture and British Airways, which won lucrative public sector contracts throughout the pandemic.
prweek.com/article/170078…

Hancock and Coladangelo been close friends since attending Oxford together, and as one Labour spokesperson pointed out in the wake of the story:

Did Coladangelo’s relationship with Hancock help her clients win contracts? We don’t know. But we do know this most recent revelation is just one in a depressingly long line of lapses in conduct that have embroiled the Health Secretary over the last 18 months.

In Feb 2019, Hancock claimed that there would be "no privatisation of the NHS under my watch". But in reality, NHS privatisation has more than doubled, increasing from £4.1bn in 2009/10 to £9.2bn in 2018/19 under Hancock.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Additionally, chair of @IndieSage and former Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King, has accused the government of trying “effectively, to privatise the NHS by stealth”.

In Jan 2020, Hancock told parliament the UK was "well prepared and well equipped" to deal with the coronavirus. Cue nurses in bin liners:

https://twitter.com/davidschneider/status/1246721955509698560?s=19

Hancock told the Science & Technology Select Committee earlier this month “there was never a point at which NHS providers couldn’t get access to PPE”, in direct contradiction to reports from the NAO, PAC, and Health Select Committee.
inews.co.uk/news/matt-hanc…

In the hearing, he also suffered a strange memory lapse when asked if he was aware of the relationship between Palantir/Faculty/Cambridge Analytica, claiming "I don't think I'm aware of that" - @allthecitizens has already documented why this seems unlikely

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1403044625384984580?s=19

Then there's the "protective ring" he claimed to have thrown around care homes. A protective ring that killed an estimated 40,000 people.
theguardian.com/world/2021/may…

Then there was the time he claimed on @GMB that PPE contracts had only been issued "a fortnight late". That’s not what the High Court said. It ruled he’d acted illegally in not publishing them on time.
bmj.com/content/372/bm…

@allthecitizens conducted an in-depth investigation into this claim, and found it once more to be categorically false.

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1366806550225051651?s=19

Now to the matter of the contracts themselves, 5 of them spread over 4 companies, all with links to Matt Hancock personally…

As @allthecitizens reported in Feb, CH&L, owned by friend of Matt Hancock from the Newmarket Races, hon Francis Stanley, won a £14.4m contract in April 2020, before being unable to deliver on it.

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1359271981342932992?s=19

And Hinpack, owned by ex-landlord of Hancock’s local pub Alex Bourne, who secured a £30m award after initially approaching him on WhatsApp. Bourne even joked during the exchange, downplaying the relationship between them;“Matt Hancock - Never heard of him”
theguardian.com/world/2021/mar…

Two contracts, worth £150,000 each, went to Topwood Ltd, a “document-shredding business” owned by Matt's sister and brother-in-law, one of which was awarded days after Hancock took a 20% stake in the company.
bywire.news/articles/healt…

EMS Healthcare were awarded a £5.5m Covid testing deal on the 14th of September. The chairman of EMS is Iain Johnston - former business partner of Shirley and Robert Carter, Hancock’s mother and stepfather.
bylinetimes.com/2020/12/10/cov…

And Sky News has reported today that "Roberto Coladangelo, who is understood to be Gina Coladangelo's brother, is an executive at a private healthcare company which has won a string of NHS contracts."

https://twitter.com/MarkKleinmanSky/status/1408440899848318982?s=20

While affairs are indeed a “personal matter”, the more serious charges against Hancock - misleading MPs, allegations of using taxpayer money to enrich friends & family with public sector contracts, and potential conflicts of interest in hiring Mrs Coladangelo remain unaddressed.

Additionally, there’s the issue of the Health Secretary breaching lockdown rules. The footage of Hancock in a ‘steamy clinch’ was taken two weeks before the ban on hugging and relaxation of social distancing rules in the workplace came into effect.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

Labour party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds responded to the scandal earlier today, saying that:
news.sky.com/video/matt-han…

Lib Dem health spokesperson Munira Wilson echoed the sentiment, calling Mr Hancock “a terrible Health Secretary [who] should have been sacked a long time ago for his failures”
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

While Hancock has now apologised for breaking the rules, stating “I have let people down and am very sorry” - and No.10 told reporters the PM “considers the matter closed” - @allthecitizens considers the numerous breaches of trust by someone in public office far from settled…

All of which is why we’re Keeping The Receipts. Please support our work by subscribing below. And follow @receiptkeepers for daily updates.
keepingthereceipts.substack.com/p/why-keeping-…