Matt Hancock has just announced he will not be standing as an MP at the next general election, news which has inspired Twitter to no end today.
The former health secretary, who resigned after breaching his own Covid rules at the height of the pandemic and who had the Tory whip removed when he entered the I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! jungle, will quit parliament in 2024.
Currently an independent MP for West Suffolk, Hancock said he was “incredibly proud” of what was achieved during his nine years in government, but that he was looking to “engage with the public in new ways” now.
In case you missed the letter to prime minister Rishi Sunak that Hancock shared on Twitter, here’s the TikTok he posted first...
Hancock is one of 15 Conservative MPs who have so far confirmed they will not be standingin the next election as a Labour Party victory looms.
The news came after many of his former Tory colleagues suggested that Hancock’s parliamentary career was over after he decided to spend weeks in the Australian jungle for reality TV.
While he came third in the competition, there still seems to be little love lost between Twitter and the former cabinet minister judging by today’s posts.
Opposition MPs were among the first to jump in...
And some people thought it wasn’t surprising at all...
Others were just astonished at the way Hancock announced the news..
One or two reminisced about the “highlights” of Hancock’s political career...
And many speculated about where he was going to go next, with some TikTok accounts wondering if he might head to Love Island, Celebrity Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing.
One tweet from writer Mollie Goodfellow was actually published several hours before Hancock confirmed he was stepping down, and speculated he might join the hit celebrity cast on the West End production 2:22 A Ghost Story.
And finally, when words were no longer enough, there were the memes.