Ambitious former health secretary has something to prove, but is woefully unprepared for the ordeal the public is about to unleash to him
Every so often, a politician comes along whose insatiable desire for publicity unites Left and Right in condemnation of their craven self-interest.
The Liberal Democrats had Lembit Opik, Labour ended up with John Bercow and now the Tories have crowned their own King of the Taking a Bung-le in the one and only Matthew John David Hancock – or “The Cock”, as he is known to his fiercest critics.
Having always been a bundle of contradictions – a northerner who behaves like a southerner; a bald, middle-aged man who acts like a teenager, a Covid rule-maker turned rule-breaker – It should perhaps come as no surprise that the former health secretary has now become a celebrity pretending to be an MP.
Yet as he emerged from day one in the Australian jungle covered in maggot-infested sludge, with his first taste of kangaroo testicle only a public vote away, there is surely something to be said for the shamelessness of the politician who once declared: “Lots of people say politics is about individualism and egos. I happen to think government is best operated as a team.”