Is Matt Hancock still an MP? When he will step down after losing Tory whip and facing WhatsApp messages row

© Provided by The i Matt Hancock is standing down as an MP at the next election (Photo: Matt Dunham/AP)

Matt Hancock has responded to a series of leaked WhatsApp messages he sent during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling it a “massive betrayal”.

The messages were leaked to The Telegraph by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was the ghostwriter for the former health secretary’s recent memoir Pandemic Diaries.

They show Mr Hancock clashed with colleagues and officials over their attempts to keep schools open, and that former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson told Mr Hancock that teachers were looking for an “excuse to avoid having to teach” during the pandemic.

The leak has also led to Mr Hancock being accused of rejecting expert advice to give Covid tests to residents from the community going into care homes in the early stages of the pandemic.

The Telegraph claims that Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, told Mr Hancock in April 2020 that there should be testing for “all going into care homes”.

But, in the leaked WhatsApp messages to his special adviser Allan Nixon, Mr Hancock said that he would “rather leave it out and just commit to test and isolate ALL going into care from hospital”.

He also expressed concerns that expanding care home testing could “get in the way” of the 100,000 daily test target he wanted to hit, according to the newspaper.

Ms Oakeshott has insisted she was acting in the public interest when she chose to pass the messages to the newspaper, saying she did it because it would take “many years” before the inquiry into the Government’s handling of the pandemic is concluded.

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said the former health secretary is “considering all options” in response to the leak, and that “the proper place for analysis like this is the inquiry, not a partial, agenda-driven leak of confidential documents”.

Is Matt Hancock still an MP?

Mr Hancock is currently the MP for West Sussex – a position he has held since 2010.

He is still a member of the Conservative Party, but sits in the House of Commons as an independent after having the whip withdrawn in November 2022.

The former health secretary had the whip removed when it was announced he would be taking a break from his duties as an MP to appear in the I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! TV programme. He finished the competition in third place. The stint earned him £320,000 and he donated £10,000 of his winnings to charity.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) watchdog determined Mr Hancock broke the rules governing post-ministerial appointments with his appearance on the show as he did not consult on it in advance.

When will Matt Hancock stand down?

Mr Hancock announced in December that he will not stand as an MP at the next election, currently scheduled to take place no later than January 2025.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, he wrote: “I am writing to tell you that I do not intend to stand for the Conservatives at the next general election. I am very grateful for my conversation with the chief whip last week, in which he made clear he would restore the whip in due course, but that is now not necessary.”

He added: “The Conservative Party must now reconnect with the public we serve. There was a time when I thought the only way to influence the public debate was in Parliament, but I’ve realised there’s far more to it than that.

“I have increasingly come to believe that for a healthy democracy we must find new ways to reach people – especially those who are disengaged with politics. The revival of modern conservatism over the next decade will I suspect take place as much outside Parliament as in it.”

Mr Hancock joins more than a dozen Tory MPs who have announced they will not be standing in the next election.

Last month it was reported that Mr Hancock had set up his own television and broadcasting company, suggesting that he hopes to pursue a career in TV after standing down as an MP.

The company was registered with Companies House in January at an address in Newmarket, Suffolk.