Matt Hancock allowed to use ridiculous excuse to keep job, says Labour

Matt Hancock was allowed to use a "completely ridiculous excuse" to keep his ministerial job, Labour says.

The health secretary was judged guilty on Friday of a "minor" breach of the ministerial standards code.

Lord Geidt, the PM's standards adviser, said Mr Hancock had not been aware that a firm co-owned by his sister had become an approved NHS supplier.

He said Mr Hancock should not lose his job over it - a decision Labour says sets a "concerning precedent".

Ministers have traditionally been expected to resign when they are found to have broken the ministerial code.

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Lord Geidt - who was appointed by Boris Johnson in April - investigated a potential conflict of interest over Mr Hancock's 20% stake in Topwood Ltd, a company run by Mr Hancock's sister and brother-in-law.

'Lack of knowledge'

The company, which specialises in the secure storage, shredding and scanning of documents, was awarded approved supplier status by NHS in England in February 2019, seven months after Mr Hancock had become health secretary.

It also won £300,000 of business from NHS Wales this year.

Mr Hancock said he had not been involved in the company in February 2019 and "did not know" about its NHS supplier status, so did not think he could "reasonably have been expected to declare it".

Lord Geidt ruled: "I believe there to be a danger that a reasonable person might perceive this link to represent a conflict of interest, and that it should have been declared at the time."

But he added the failure to declare the interest was due to Mr Hancock's "lack of knowledge" of the company's status as an approved NHS supplier and was "in no way deliberate".

Either Mr Hancock's "sister and/or brother-in-law" had failed to raise the issue with him, "or nothing had otherwise been brought to Mr Hancock's attention such that he would have had reason to enquire", said Lord Geidt in his report.

'Trust in politics'

He said Mr Hancock had "acted properly and honestly in promptly" declaring his financial interest in March this year.

But Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said Lord Geidt had allowed Mr Hancock to use a "completely ridiculous excuse" to keep his position at the top of government.

Angela Rayner says the ruling damages public trust

"The implication of Lord Geidt's justification, if applied to members of the public, is that people who own 20% stakes in companies don't know what these companies actually do, and people don't know what companies owned by their sisters do, or what their sisters do for a living," she said on Twitter.

"This saga has completely undermined ethics and standards in our public life."

Ms Rayner has made a formal complaint to Lord Geidt about his ruling, which she said sets a "concerning precedent".

"I have asked Lord Geidt whether he agrees that this precedent of a cabinet minister being found by an independent investigation to have broken the ministerial code and then not resigning sends a very clear message that the rules don't apply to cabinet ministers, with this case therefore damaging public trust in our politics, fundamentally weakening the ministerial code system and giving carte blanche to other ministers to break the ministerial code, safe in the knowledge that they will not face sanctions," she added.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "The independent, cross-party Committee on Standards in Public Life recommends that there should be a range of sanctions where the ministerial code has been breached, and that the expectation that any breach of the code should lead to resignation is disproportionate.

"This is the first case considered under that approach."