Matt Hancock’s United Nations role withdrawn

Matt Hancock's United Nations role withdrawn

Matt Hancock's United Nations role withdrawn. image: twitter

Former UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has had a job role from the United Nations withdrawn.

Earlier this week, Hancock announced that he had been given a United Nations role in helping Africa’s economy recover from Covid.

The UN said he had valuable experience in the role, however, it has now informed him that the appointment “is not being taken forward.”

The UN had been criticised by leading figures across Africa and the UK for choosing the MP for the role.

He was congratulated on the role by former cabinet colleagues including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Housing Secretary Michael Gove and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

In her letter to Hancock offering him the role, Ms Songwe said his “success” in handling the of the pandemic response in the UK was a testament to the strengths he would bring to the job.

However, Hancock faced a backlash from critics on social media, who highlighted the fact that a critical report from MPs on the UK government’s handling of the pandemic had been released on the same day as he was offered the job.

Four months ago, Hancock resigned from his cabinet post after images emerged of him kissing a colleague, breaking social media guidelines he had set for the country.

The withdrawal of the offer was welcomed by campaign group Global Justice Now.

The group’s director Nick Dearden said: “If Matt Hancock wants to help African countries recover from the pandemic, he should lobby the prime minister to back a patent waiver on Covid-19 vaccines.”

“If he’d done that when he was in government, tens of millions more people could already have been vaccinated.”

“The last thing the African continent needs is a failed British politician. This isn’t the 19th Century.”


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Written by

Laura Kemp

Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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