London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Matt Hancock: Covid campaigners fly banner over I'm A Celebrity jungle

Matt Hancock: Covid campaigners fly banner over I'm A Celebrity jungle

The families of some of those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic say they have flown a message over the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! camp, demanding the removal of Matt Hancock.
Campaign groups 38 Degrees and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice posted photos of a banner, which read: "Covid bereaved say get out of here!"

Hancock, who was health secretary at the height of the pandemic, is in the TV show's jungle camp in Australia.

Broadcaster ITV has not commented.


In a statement, Lobby Akinnola from Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, who lost his father to the disease, said: "Matt Hancock isn't a 'celebrity', he's the former health secretary who oversaw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid-19 whilst breaking his own lockdown rules."

Hancock was forced to resign as health secretary in June 2021 after breaking the government's social distancing rules by kissing a colleague who he was having an affair with.

Matthew McGregor, chief executive of 38 Degrees, said: "No-one has forgotten how Matt Hancock conducted himself during the Covid-19 pandemic: not the general public, not his campmates, and certainly not those who lost loved ones.

"Our message emblazoned across the skies makes crystal clear to Matt Hancock: you should be representing the people of West Suffolk and giving Covid Bereaved Families the answers they deserve, rather than playing games for dingo dollars, plastic stars and a [reported] £400,000 paycheck."

The airborne protest came after more than 44,000 people signed a petition calling for ITV to reverse its decision to include the serving West Suffolk MP on the programme.

The issue of Hancock's resignation came up in the jungle when fellow contestant Scarlette Douglas described the MP's behaviour as "a slap in the face" by someone who had set the rules and had then broken them.

Responding on the show, he said there was "no excuse" for the actions that led to his resignation. Hancock added: "Look, I know how people felt. That's why I resigned, right?"

He later became emotional as he told campmates that what he is "really looking for is a bit of forgiveness".

Hancock has been suspended as a Conservative MP, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday that the former minister's future in Parliament would be decided by voters at the next election.

"Ultimately, the question is for his constituents at an election but I think it was right that the Chief Whip removed the conservative whip from Matt Hancock. It's a decision I support and I was very disappointed that he decided to go on the show," the prime minister said.

Before he entered the jungle, Hancock said he was joining the show to raise dyslexia awareness, and he has told his fellow campmates he wants to show another side to politicians.

His spokesman said Hancock supports and is co-operating with an independent public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, and that producers have agreed he can communicate with his team about any urgent constituency matters that arise while he's on the show.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
×