Matt Hancock affair (3)

[TheoMeo]

Surely you would have cameras in a Government building and surely pointing it at doorways between different areas or departments isn't a bad idea.
It looks like a screenshot of a cctv security camera monitor.

Quite honestly @DysonSphere, if Hancock and Coladangelo don’t give a shit about the effect of their behaviour on their children, I don’t see why the impact on them of the publicity should trouble anyone else.

I hope he is deselected, judging by the local reaction to this debacle, if his constituency party has any desire to retain the seat they’ll get shot.

'if Hancock and Coladangelo don’t give a shit about the effect of their behaviour on their children, I don’t see why the impact on them of the publicity should trouble anyone else.'

You need to unclench a bit. Many people have very unhappy marriages and have affairs. I'm not condoning it, but it happens. No one expects their privacy to be exploited so gratuitously. The images did not need publishing nor did the footage, for their families sake. It's all a bit pitchfork waving some of the responses on here.

He needed to resign and should not have broken SD guidelines a few weeks ago. That is all.

I am glad that his local party is angry and wants to deselect him. It does at least show that some Tories have standards, unlike the apologists on this thread.

'unlike the apologists on this thread.'

Oh I must've missed the 'apologists'?

Or do you mean the people like me who pointed out yes he broke SD, he was caught out and resigned all v good but imo the images and footage obtained sneakily should not have been publicised?

Funny isn't it how that snp minister wasn't deselected despite travelling about knowingly covid positive.

Apologists @Peregrina, where?

Haven't most people said they find their actions reprehensible? I think the remainder have said they didn't think an affair should have been the reason for him stepping down, but his incompetence should have been the reason.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-57666701?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=BLND%20%2020210630%20%20House%20Ads%20%20SM+CID_af22a834604ee8dea42daebab115075e

"but his incompetence should have been the reason."

Well yes. But it wasn't enough was it. Why was that?

You need to unclench a bit

You need to stop being so bloody rude. We’re talking about Hancock, not Margaret Ferrier.

@JaniieJones

I am quite aware of the numbers in wards etc. I have a friend who is an ICU nurse, and know someone who was in hospital with covid in wave one.

. I know that they had to close schools and universities. However all I ask is that they treat the young people with the same respect as they give to the furloughed. So a rebate of some form on this year's tuition fees, a better thought out process of examination for example.

I don't live in cloud cuckoo land. If we are all following the rules I expect all of those who make the rules to follow them, and suffer the consequences if they don't. And they should treat young people with respect.

@DysonSphere, your comment about being more voyeuristic is a great one. Do you think we are more voyeuristic because we're more permissive - are they two sides of the same coin?

There have been lots of comments about unhappy marriages, affairs happen etc - and when this news broke I guess I agreed with that. But reflecting on it this week, I wonder whether I now think there's no justification for adultery at all. If you're unhappy in your marriage, work on it or get divorced. The latter is very painful, but at least it's honest. I think there is a callousness and cruelty in adultery that is really disturbing and we should call it out vigourously. Especially when there are children involved - I wouldn't be surprised if some kids involved in situations like this get full blown PTSD.

@SadinOxon
Do you think we are more voyeuristic because we're more permissive - are they two sides of the same coin?

That's a really good question. Possibly so in the sense that because there's so much permissiveness, we've become a bit more jaded and cynical. We find humour in things we might have treated with more gravitas before, we are less easily shocked - (it's just an affair etc) - so to procure the same level of outrage, we would have had just a few years ago, we need more. We need to hear more details, see more, share more because well.... a public servant and married man having an affair with another married woman is just not so shocking anymore. It no longer raises the same level of ire. The public require more to stoke them.

We are inundated with social media and see celebrities sharing everything for attention with no details spared on a regular basis. The Daily Mail side page is a running feed of celebs over-sharing. It's no wonder if we've become used to it and now expect it.

But that said it's a deep question and the answer is probably more complicated.

Funny isn't it how that snp minister wasn't deselected despite travelling about knowingly covid positive.

funny how the SNP Minister immediately lost the whip, which is an effective deselection.

I haven't heard of Hancock losing the Tory whip. What we have heard is Johnson saying the matter was closed on Friday and now trying to pretend that Hancock's resignation was prompted by him.

Also I don't think there's ever an excuse for an affair either. There may be reasons that explain it but they can't excuse it. For every person in an unhappy marriage having an affair, there's others in the same boat equally struggling, who still wouldn't dream of cheating and turn down opportunities to do so out of a sense of respect for their partner, even though the love has gone. I've seen it personally. So no excuses in my book.

When you stand in front of the nation dictating what you the public can and can't do for 15 odd months including who you can or cannot hug, deny loved ones the right to be beside the ones they love as they die, to have a wedding or have to sit on your own unsupported at a loved ones funeral then when you are found to have broken your own rules all you can expect is absolute ruin and death by media. It is awful for the 6 children and 2 spouses but it had to be published. Millions and millions of people have been denied so much yet he denied himself nothing.
But, the affair will cover up where the actual focus should be. Private email accounts used for shady dealing. His lies to the committee about safeguarding care homes when he knowingly sent people from hospital untested into carehomes causing 30,000 deaths. Purring Frontline workers at risk of death through lack of adequate PPE the same people this Government is denying a decent wage rise to. The hypocrisy of this Government and attitude and distain that stinks towards the public especially the poor and disabled is astonishing. Yet people still vote for them in their millions. I think it says a lot about the society we live in that the most corrupt Government of our time continue to rule this country.

I haven't heard of Hancock losing the Tory whip. What we have heard is Johnson saying the matter was closed on Friday and now trying to pretend that Hancock's resignation was prompted by him

Boris would never have sacked him afterall he's a multiple adulterer himself plus as with Cummings Hancock and other members of cabinet have too much on Boris for Boris to sack any of them.

@DysonSphere

Also I don't think there's ever an excuse for an affair either. There may be reasons that explain it but they can't excuse it. For every person in an unhappy marriage having an affair, there's others in the same boat equally struggling, who still wouldn't dream of cheating and turn down opportunities to do so out of a sense of respect for their partner, even though the love has gone. I've seen it personally. So no excuses in my book.

I'm not quite sure if you think people should stay together if they are unhappy or if you think they should end the marriage first. Personally I don't think people should spend decades in an unhappy marriage.

"but his incompetence should have been the reason."

Well yes. But it wasn't enough was it. Why was that?

Because it's the most corrupt and inept Government this country has ever had.

@JaniieJones

'unlike the apologists on this thread.'

Oh I must've missed the 'apologists'?

Or do you mean the people like me who pointed out yes he broke SD, he was caught out and resigned all v good but imo the images and footage obtained sneakily should not have been publicised?

Funny isn't it how that snp minister wasn't deselected despite travelling about knowingly covid positive.

How would you feel if it came out that the PM knew about it but wouldn't do anything so the only way to get the situation dealt with was to go public with it?

I'm not saying he knew, I've got no idea, but just wonder if you think there is a point where whistleblowing is the only way.

Of course Boris knew, and of course he hope it would blow over.

Boris would never have sacked him afterall he's a multiple adulterer himself plus as with Cummings Hancock and other members of cabinet have too much on Boris for Boris to sack any of them

Totally agree with this. There ae many skeletons in the cupboard for Boris and he is compromised. He didn't sack Hancock as much as he likes to insinuate he did. Hancock went because he was not getting support from other tories and there was a huge public outcry.

I feel desperately sorry for the families but this is all down to Hancock. And this...

Billboards in London....

From Hancock's mouth "If one person breaks the rules, we all suffer"

Hypocrite.

Now let's look at the rest of the shady stuff... private emals etc.

@JaniieJones

You need to unclench a bit.

WARNING: Ad hominem - argument weak.

Or do you mean the people like me who pointed out yes he broke SD, he was caught out and resigned all v good but imo the images and footage obtained sneakily should not have been publicised?

Ha ha! You think Hancock would have resigned without that proof?

He'd have easily roughed it out & you would have supported him "ah but where's the evidence, just nasty gossip"

Save your sympathy for the 27yo who died desperate to have his family around him but they all stuck to the rules Hancock made, Johnson showed little yesterday, so i'm not holding my breath.

You think Hancock would have resigned without that proof?

Absolutely not! Johnson was going down that route anyway with the 'I consider the matter closed' nonsense.

Look at Cummings... he hung on for dear life whilst Ministers batted away questions for days, if not longer.

The Major era of Tory sleaze really does pale in comparison with the current crop. And I think those who believe it's no longer necessary that ministers resign when they've been caught having an affair because it's a "private matter" should reconsider.

Adultery is an action which has, at its core, dishonesty and the breaking of what should be a pretty solemn promise (marriage vows). It shows cowardice too. And it is an important clue about a person's character traits in other areas of their life. There are several options if you're unhappy in your marriage (absent abuse, certainly). One is to speak with your spouse and decide to go your separate ways, rather than carry on behind that spouse's back and have an affair. I know it often seems easier just to commit adultery, but the easy way often just isn't the right thing to do. It's difficult to do the right thing.

Dishonesty runs through the current cabinet like the letters through a stick of rock. Look at Johnson now trying to claim it was something he said or did that triggered Hancock's resignation, when he is on record as having said the matter was closed after Hancock apologised. And his toadies were on the media repeating the same line over and over at that bizarre press conference shortly after the news broke! Now - as to this claim: Johnson is either lying with full intent, trying to deceive the electorate, or he's reckless as to the truth (which is hardly news). It really, really angers me that he seems to think we are all so stupid that we might believe this claim, after the very clear and contradictory public messages directly contradicting it. I genuinely wonder what goes through his mind - does he really think that because he got a 2:1 from Oxford and is wealthy and privileged that the electorate cannot see through him? Really?!? When many of the articulate and cogently-expressed posts on this thread alone tell me that, of course, there are many intelligent folk who see right through him.

But - one thing is certain - we should avoid having such dishonest people whom we patently cannot trust in government.

I genuinely wonder what goes through his mind

I honestly think he thinks he's untouchable. Because of the northern blue wall in 2019, because of a sense of entitlement, and just because he can.

The Chesham by election must have hit hard. Let's hope it's a sign of things to come.

@rousette I actually agree. And his being able to marry at Westminster Cathedral, the mother Church of England and Wales, despite being a serial adulterer, will add credence to his theory that he can basically do whatever he likes.