Not the best time for a photo op, Matt! Health Secretary’s fencing-hopping fitness routine sparks string of memes… as medics are poised to strike over 1% pay
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock was today ridiculed for jumping over a park fence and doing press-ups
- 42-year-old politician was pictured exercising in a park in London as he performed the dramatic leap
- Social media users were quick to make fun of Mr Hancock, with some comparing him to Alan Partridge
- Photographs come amid growing fury over the Government proposing a 1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock was today ridiculed for jumping over a park fence and doing press-ups amid growing fury over the Government proposing a 1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff.
The 42-year-old politician was pictured exercising in a park in London as he performed a dramatic leap over a low fence, with the moment captured by a photographer who was said to have been passing.
Social media users were quick to make fun of Mr Hancock, with some comparing him to Alan Partridge, and the scene where Steve Coogan’s comedy character runs away from an obsessed fan and jumps over a stile.
Others joked that the picture of Mr Hancock – who is leading today’s Government press conference – jumping over the fence looked like it could be used in ‘What Happened Next’ in the BBC quiz show A Question of Sport.
One Twitter user, George Cooper, said: ‘I keep seeing this photo and I need context. Why is he jumping over this fence? Why was he on the grass? Why the exaggerated form? Why is Matt Hancock like this?’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock jumps over a small fence today as he goes out for exercise at a park in London
Mr Hancock is spotted exercising in the park today by photographer Jeremy Selwyn who was said to have been passing by
The 42-year-old Health Secretary smiles after jumping over the fence while exercising at a park in London today
Another, Lester Buxton, tweeted: ‘Genuine credit to Matt Hancock for attempting to jump that fence. I’m 25 and I wouldn’t try it. I would give NHS workers an actual pay rise though.’
Further social media users said Mr Hancock was ‘clearly not on the fence about NHS pay’ and that he was ‘trying to hurdle a 2ft fence like some sort of Titan.’
Speaking about Mr Hancock exercising today, Evening Standard photographer Jeremy Selwyn tweeted: ‘Wish all the politicians were as nice to photographers as Matt Hancock.’
And the newspaper’s head of pictures Elliot Wagland added: ‘Very impressed with Matt Hancock’s leap over a fence today, over to you Boris! Luckily, Jeremy Selwyn was passing at the time.’
The Health Secretary is also photographed doing a press up during his time exercising in the park in London today
Mr Hancock was exercising in a park today ahead of leading the Government’s press conference this afternoon
The Health Secretary smiles as he does a press up during his time exercising in a park in London today
It comes as a Government recommendation to increase pay for nurses and other healthcare staff by 1 per cent was branded an ‘insult’ and ‘hypocrisy in its greatest form’ by NHS workers.
The Unite union has warned of industrial action amid growing anger at the proposals, while the Royal College of Nursing announced it will set up a £35million industrial action fund in response.
Health minister Nadine Dorries today defended the Government’s position, saying nurses have received a 12 per cent increase in pay over the last three years and the average nurse’s salary is around £34,000.
Meanwhile the mystery person infected with the Manaus variant of coronavirus has been found. Officials have been hunting for the unknown individual after cases of the variant of concern were detected in the UK.
Six cases of the P1 variant, first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus, have been found – three in Scotland and three in England.
A public appeal was made for one of those people in England to come forward after they took a test in February but left no contact details.
Earlier this week, Mr Hancock said the hunt for the infected person had been narrowed down to 379 households in South East England. Public health officials have now found the unnamed person and traced all of their contacts.
The P1 variant, which was also detected in travellers from Brazil to Japan, was associated with a surge of cases in Manaus late last year. It is among a total of four variants of concern being tracked by scientists in the UK.