Matt Hancock ordered to apologise over rule breach

The erstwhile wellness secretary, Matt Hancock, has been recovered to person breached Parliament's rules for attempting to power an enquiry into a Conservative MP.

A standards watchdog ordered Mr Hancock to apologise for the "minor breach".

Mr Hancock wrote a missive defending Tory MP Steve Brine, who was investigated implicit lobbying allegations.

Mr Hancock denied trying to power the probe by Parliament's standards commissioner.

But connected Monday, the Commons Committee connected Standards released a report, which recovered Mr Hancock had made "a wide effort to power the commissioner's investigation".

The committee said Mr Hancock had breached a regularisation that prevents MPs from lobbying the commissioner successful a mode that is "calculated oregon intended to power his consideration".

Although Mr Hancock did not acceptable retired to breach the rules, had nary imaginable of idiosyncratic summation from penning the letter, and did "not enactment with malice", the committee said, helium "has inactive not acknowledged his mistake".

"Mr Hancock is simply a erstwhile furniture curate and has been an MP for implicit 10 years," the committee's study said. "It is concerning that a subordinate with this acquisition has not taken relationship of these provisions of the code."

The committee recommended that Mr Hancock should marque a idiosyncratic connection to apologise to the House of Commons and the standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg.

He should besides be a "briefing connected his obligations nether the codification with the commissioner", the committee's study said.

MPs are expected to behave wrong rules acceptable retired successful a codification of conduct approved by the Commons, and immoderate alleged breaches tin beryllium investigated by the standards commissioner.

The study said Mr Hancock had sent the commissioner an unsolicited missive portion he was investigating Mr Brine - the seat of the Commons wellness committee - implicit claims helium lobbied the NHS connected behalf of a recruitment firm.

Leaked messages from 2021 showed Mr Brine had been trying interaction wellness bosses portion acting arsenic a paid advisor for Remedium Partners, a recruitment steadfast offering doctors for escaped to the NHS.

Mr Brine, a erstwhile wellness minister, said helium was responding to a telephone from ministers to assistance the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The texts were immoderate of the much than 100,000 WhatsApp messages involving Mr Hancock that were leaked to the Telegraph paper by writer Isabel Oakeshott.

But the commissioner, Mr Greenberg, cleared Mr Brine of paid advocacy.

During the investigation, Mr Hancock wrote a missive to the commissioner, arguing "that what Mr Brine did was acting overwhelmingly successful the nationalist interest".

The rulebook for MPs says they should not effort to power the determination of the commissioner during an probe into an alleged breach.

The BBC has been told that Mr Hancock volition code the breach successful a connection later.

Mr Hancock, who became 1 of the best-known politicians successful the state during the Covid-19 pandemic, remains suspended arsenic a Tory MP for for taking clip disconnected from his parliamentary duties to look connected I'm A Celebrity past year.