Hypocrisy in politicians and public figures
As I contemplate any cause célèbre scandal, such as that which engulfed Government Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday after The Sun published him snogging one of his close advisers Gina Colodangelo in the office, one of the first things that always comes to my mind is the phrase “Let he who is without blame cast the first stone” – a phrase with origins in Chapter 8, verse 7 of the Gospel according to John.
I have to confess that nobody loves a great big juicy media hoo-hah like this latest Hancock one more than I do but I suspect that most Rusters – and indeed others who have been taking the key developments onboard whether they liked it or not and irrespective of their degree of interest in politics and/or scandals generally – will at some point have spared a sympathetic thought for all concerned and particularly for the key players’ spouses and families.
Humans are, by their nature, fallible beings.
I’m not going to discuss here the feelings and/or motivations that drove Hancock and Colodangelo into each other’s arms.
However, against the background of his position as a Minister of State, the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and the ongoing fall-out from the departure of the infamous Dominic Cummings – including Cummings’ subsequent self-indulgent beans-spilling about the chaotic goings-on inside Number 10 under Boris Johnson, not least his direct and damning criticisms of Hancock’s abilities and record as Health Secretary – Hancock must have been cringing at the kitchen breakfast table this morning as he reviewed the ongoing media storm over his personal conduct after having spent the past eighteen months “front and central” in the Government’s response to the pandemic, and having received not a little near-constant criticism for his performance in doing so, particularly lecturing the public upon how important it was that we must obey the rules.
To be frank, from here – and it’s easy for me to say, isn’t it? – I cannot see Hancock surviving as Health Secretary despite the Prime Minister’s apparent acceptance of his apology for breaching the Government’s rules on social-distancing and his statement that he (Boris) now regards the matter as closed.
Contemplating the general onslaught of attacks and self-inflicted inefficiencies, decision-changing and cock-ups that have been afflicting the Johnson Premiership, perhaps the nearest analogy that I can think of is that of the giant WW2 German battleship the Bismark [eventually scuttled on 27th May 1941] during her desperate attempts in the Atlantic to out-run the Allies’ determined attempts to locate and sink her.
Even over the past month the chaos of the Government’s “emergence from lockdown back to something like normal” plan, the disaster over its overseas travel/holiday policies (which seem to change every 48 hours) and now this Hancock scandal – almost a replica of the “hypocrisy storm” that engulfed Dominic Cummings himself during lockdown when he drove the best part of 300 miles to the North East in defiance of the Government rules then in place – have effectively amounted to three torpedo strikes below the Bismark’s waterline.
I cannot yet determine whether this particular Bismark is yet terminally doomed, but its steering has definitely been badly affected by the cumulative damage suffered.
In the meantime I just wished to share one thought with readers of the Rust.
Having seen the image below on the pages of several national newspapers this morning, I could only conclude that Matt Hancock should resign from the Government immediately, or otherwise be sacked.
Could any sensible member of the public take a Government minister seriously when he wears socks like these [viz. bright yellow and with apparently a cartoon character adorning them]?
