Former health secretary Matt Hancock lands United Nations job

He resigned in June after images showed him embracing an aide.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock lands United Nations job Getty Images

Former health secretary Matt Hancock has been given a new job as a special representative for the United Nations.

Announcing the news on Twitter, he said he was “honoured” by the appointment which comes three and half months after he resigned from his cabinet office.

He left his government job in June after images and video showed him in an embrace with aide Gina Coladangelo and he faced pressure to quit over the breaking of social-distancing rules.

As the UN’s special representative for financial innovation and climate change, Hancock said he will be working to help Africa’s economic recovery from the Covid pandemic.

It comes as a report from MPs said decisions made at the start of the pandemic “rank as one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced”.

In a letter, Hancock, the MP for West Suffolk, said he would be “delighted” to work with Vera Songwe, the Under Secretary General of the UN.

Dr Songwe praised the former health minister’s “success” on the United Kingdom’s response to Covid-19.

In a letter offering him the position, Dr Songwe said “the acceleration of vaccines that has led the UK move faster towards economic recovery is one testament to the strengths that you will bring to this role, together with your fiscal and monetary experience.”

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