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Matt Hancock's United Nations role withdrawn | Matt Hancock's United Nations role withdrawn |
(33 minutes later) | |
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has had a job offer from the United Nations withdrawn. | Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has had a job offer from the United Nations withdrawn. |
Mr Hancock announced earlier this week that he had been given a role helping Africa's economy recover from Covid. | Mr Hancock announced earlier this week that he had been given a role helping Africa's economy recover from Covid. |
This was confirmed by a top UN official - but the BBC understands the organisation has decided not to go ahead with the appointment. | This was confirmed by a top UN official - but the BBC understands the organisation has decided not to go ahead with the appointment. |
Leading figures across Africa and UK opposition parties had criticised his appointment to a global role. | Leading figures across Africa and UK opposition parties had criticised his appointment to a global role. |
Mr Hancock was not available for comment. | |
Ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock given UN role | |
On Tuesday, the former health secretary tweeted a copy of the letter from UN Under-Secretary General Vera Songwe offering him the unpaid role. | |
He was congratulated by former cabinet colleagues, including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Housing Secretary Michael Gove and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries. | |
But the West Suffolk MP faced a backlash from critics on social media, who pointed to the fact that a highly critical report from MPs on the UK government's handling of the pandemic had been released on the same day. | |
Mr Hancock's new role came four months after he resigned from his cabinet post for breaking social distancing guidelines by kissing a colleague. | |
He had been planning to continue as a Tory MP while working as the UN special representative on financial innovation and climate change for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. | |
In her letter to Mr Hancock offering him the job, Ms Songwe said his "success" in handling the UK's pandemic response was a testament to the strengths he would bring to the role. | |
In his reply, the MP said: "As we recover from the pandemic so we must take this moment to ensure Africa can prosper." | |
The withdrawal of the offer was welcomed by campaign group Global Justice Now. | |
The group's director Nick Dearden said: "If Matt Hancock wants to help African countries recover from the pandemic, he should lobby the prime minister to back a patent waiver on Covid-19 vaccines. | |
"If he'd done that when he was in government, tens of millions more people could already have been vaccinated. | |
"The last thing the African continent needs is a failed British politician. This isn't the 19th Century." |