Matt Hancock Has Resigned

[heywood]

Mr Hancock breached the guidelines through his close contact with and an admitted relationship with a friend who had been appointed by him to a position within his department.
That is not rumour and gossip.

Not sure that anyone has suggested it is rumour or gossip. 

Sorry just not on the same wavelength as those who believe his private life is a worse scenario than breaching covid guidelines.

Pheno

I was quoting Nick’s opinion re rumour and gossip and was, I thought, giving his (Mr Hancock’s) reason for the breach of covid guidelines which was his admitted downfall i.e. his close contact with his friend.

[Nick_Ips]

I was quoting Nick’s opinion re rumour and gossip and was, I thought, giving his (Mr Hancock’s) reason for the breach of covid guidelines which was his admitted downfall i.e. his close contact with his friend.

That quote, with the important words bolded....

"But again, politicians are entitled to a private life, and judging them on the basis of rumour and gossip about their private life choices is wrong. Hancock's failure wasn't in his relationships, it was in breaching the guidelines his own department issued."

"Mr Hancock breached the guidelines through his close contact with and an admitted relationship with a friend who had been appointed by him to a position within his department."

= Fact (with the breach being a resigning issue)


[Edit: Examples below from elsewhere, not said by heywood]

"love rat"
"throughout most of it"
"I feel sorry for his wife and children"
"midlife crisis"
"Cheated"
"Mistress"
~and~
"Matt Hancock's secret affair with aide Gina Coladangelo..." [The Sun]
"Matt Hancock 'affair with Gina' is 'serious' and he is 'in love'..." [The Mirror]
"Callous Matt Hancock dumped wife on Thursday" [Daily Wail]
= Rumour and gossip (about private life choices)

[heywood]

I would appreciate it, Nick, if you did not quote my post alongside those. That is not my opinion. You introduced ‘rumour and gossip’ and I qualified his reasons for resignation.

[Nick_Ips]

I would appreciate it, Nick, if you did not quote my post alongside those. That is not my opinion. You introduced ‘rumour and gossip’ and I qualified his reasons for resignation.

Apologies for any confusion.

My reply was also a response to your post #94 in which you quoted me (unattributed), stated the facts I've quoted above, and then said "That is not rumour and gossip".

My reply was to draw the distinction between what you said (the relevant facts), and what I meant by 'rumour and gossip'. I thought that distinction was self-evident in my reply, but have now edited it to further separate the quote of your post (still using the forum's 'quote' facility) from the examples of 'rumour and gossip' (still using plain text).

[heywood]

Thank you.

[Maiden Stone]

I really don't think the issue here is whether or not he is having an affair, that is his business, although the people I feel sorry for are his wife and children and her husband and children. What is wrong is that he was the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and was the person telling the whole country to obey the rules of social distancing etc whilst he was obviously breaking them. If he breaks them why can't everyone else. A case of do as I say, not what I do. I feel we have a right to expect those that make the rules to keep them and if they can't then they need to step down from that job.

That's the nub of it.
It's similar to Professor Neil Ferguson's resignation last year. Ferguson resigned after a close encounter with a lady-friend. The reason for his resignation was that he broke Covid guidelines not because he was having an affair.