Matt Hancock has been placed under investigation by parliament’s standards commissioner – for allegedly “lobbying” the sleaze watchdog to influence its findings.
The parliamentary commissioner for standards confirmed on Wednesday afternoon it was looking into the former health secretary’s conduct for “lobbying the commissioner in a manner calculated or intended to influence his consideration of whether a breach of the code of conduct has occurred”.
The Commissioner in November revealed they had received “dozens” of complaints about Mr Hancock after his appearance on the television reality show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! – though it is not clear whether the probe relates to this.
A spokesperson for Matt Hancock said the alleged lobbying was a “misundstanding” and that he had only tried to provide evidence to the commissioner to help their investigation.
“Mr Hancock is shocked and surprised by the investigation. Far from lobbying the commissioner, Matt wrote to Mr Greenberg in good faith to offer some additional evidence that he thought was not only pertinent but helpful for an inquiry the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is currently conducting,” the spokesperson said.
“It’s clearly a misunderstanding and Matt looks forward to fully engaging with the Commissioner to clear this up.”
The spokesperson would not be drawn on what claims the commissioner had been investigating when the alleged lobbying took place.
The current parliamentary standards commission is Daniel Greenberg. He has been in post since January 2023, when he replaced Kathryn Stone, who had held the role since 2018.
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