Disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s team reportedly sought to lock up Brexit leader Nigel Farage in 2020 for supposedly breaching Chinese coronavirus lockdown rules by having a pint in a pub.
In the latest round of the “lockdown files”, a series of some 100,000 text messages from ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock leaked to The Telegraph newspaper by Hancock biographer and journalist Isabel Oakeshott, Mr Hancock was allegedly shown to have sought to imprison Nigel Farage after the Brexiteer tweeted a picture of himself in a pub shortly after returning from an overseas trip to attend a Donald Trump rally in America, which at the time would have required that he self-isolate for at least two weeks.
According to the paper, on the Fourth of July of 2020, the then-Health Secretary shared a Sky News report questioning whether Farage had breached the rules, and demanded: “We need to discuss urgently”.
One of his aides at the time, Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, replied: “Does he count as a pub hooligan? Can we lock him up?”
Hancock asked his team to contact the office of Priti Patel, then the government minister in charge of the Home Office, if it was “considering” pursuing Farage, and asking: “Isn’t enforcement for [Public Health England]?”
The Tory politician did eventually say that the case should be treated “like any other” and the matter was left up to the discretion of the Home Office, not the Department of Health.
Ironically, Mr Hancock was forced to resign from his post the following year after it emerged that he had breached the very draconian lockdown restrictions he imposed on the nation by having a romantic affair with a top staffer.
Despite being caught on film violating the lockdown restrictions — and his marriage vows — the Metropolitan Police said that at the time that they would not investigate Mr Hancock, stating: “As a matter of course the [police force] is not investigating Covid related issues retrospectively.”
Liberal Democrat Leader Reports Nigel Farage to Police for Having a Pint https://t.co/i23EIvJA2l
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 4, 2020
While he denied breaching lockdown rules at the time, Mr Farage admitted to The Telegraph on Thursday: “If I was being honest with you, after the first set of lockdowns I wasn’t really prepared for some little pipsqueak like Matt Hancock to tell me how to live my life, quite frankly.
“That photo was taken when I came back from America, on the day the pubs opened. It was pretty nip and tuck … which means I probably was in breach. I’m probably a Covidiot,” he joked.
“The idea that Headmaster Hancock was after me – I love it,” he said.
The incident was not the only time that Mr Farage ran afoul of lockdown enthusiasts, with two police officers warning him in May of 2020 to follow “essential travel” rules after he filmed a report in the English Channel exposing the beginnings of what would become a full-on boat migrant crisis.
The police reportedly came to his door after a member of the public complained of his apparent lockdown breach — a not uncommon occurrence as snitching on fellow citizens during the lockdowns was actually encouraged by police.
A British police force has set up a website for the public to inform on people suspected of breaking the national lockdown rules. https://t.co/kxbM316ws4
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 29, 2020
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