Matt Hancock appointed as UN special envoy on COVID? Is this for real?

[TheWhalrus]

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/12/matt-hancock-appointed-un-special-envoy-to-help-covid-recovery-in-africa

Just saw this....of all the people. Could they really have selected anyone less suitable for this role? Next they'll be asking King Herod to advise on childcare....

Yep. This caused me to be rude on twitter this morning. Good start to the flipping day.

The timing of the announcement alongside yesterday's headlines made me wonder if someone had a very sick sense of humour.

Are they having a laugh?!?!? Poor Africa, is all I can say.

Urgh.

Jesus.

Jobs for the boys.

@ssd

Jesus.

Jobs for the boys.

No other explanation.

If I fucked up and behaved as badly at work as he did I'd have been sacked, put on a professional 'barred' list, and struggled to find decently paid work ever again, most likely. He gets a few months off to work on his memoirs then swans into a cushy new role to fuck up all over again.

Someone made a joke about him moving into Foreign “Affairs”

😬

Someone has given him a missionary position...... poor Gina

It didn't surprise me at all. I doubt MH has been sat at home worried about his future. He would have been assured of a lucrative future role for going quietly when he did.

The whole thing was a setup and he was probably in on it. Convenient for him to let go of the reins after an exhausting 18 months (I am not his fan, but he did put in long hours and it must have been stressful) and then swan off with his new GF just as Boris wanted a change of tone and pace in the pandemic messaging.

It's MH's wife I feel sorry for. Hope she is glad to be rid of him and is doing OK.

@ItsSnowJokes

Someone has given him a missionary position...... poor Gina

😳

Anyone who needs to have their name written on their T-Shirt is going to have an uphill battle to regain respect.

Thanks for confirming its not me going mad (just the establishment being mad, as per usual).

@ChequerBoard I would imagine MHs wife is mightily relieved to be rid of him. I hope she cleans him out with the divorce settlement.

I was actually speechless when I read this.
You might as well make Bojo the next secretary general.

It fascinates me that because we don't have a significant bribery culture that people think that automatically means we don't have high levels of corruption.

Our corruption is driven by networks rather than bribes, but it's still corruption.

Have they not suffered enough?

What a coincidence that he was appointed by a friend of Carrie Symonds (allegedly). And there I was thinking it was his handling of the UK Covid crisis that was world-beating and thus they head-hunted him.

I guess his new employer did not read the report just published this week into the greatest failure by a government in respect of healthcare while he was in charge.

😂😂😂

No way!
Laughable if it wasn't so awful.

I bet a chorus of "oh FFS" went up in Africa when they heard this.

Looks like they had second thoughts after all:
www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/16/united-nations-withdraws-matt-hancock-job-offer

Can't say I blame the UN for deciding not to bother after all, although I do wonder why they even approached him in the first place?

These appointments shouldn’t be made in the first place rather than being withdrawn after double checking due to outcry.

I saw on twitter (so not necessarily reliable...) that Boris 'secured' him the role and told him it was a done deal. Except it wasn't.

Its cheered me up today.

Karma at work
Africa has been saved.

LOL