He was one of the only cabinet ministers to stay in post when Boris Johnson<\/strong> took over from Theresa May<\/strong> in Downing Street.<\/p>\n Allies pointed to his ability to keep NHS winter pressures out of the headlines.<\/p>\n However, others accused him of being something of a political shapeshifter.<\/p>\n In the 2019 Conservative leadership contest, Mr Hancock initially stood on a moderate platform.<\/p>\n The one time Remain supporter made a point of flagging his opposition to suspending parliament during the Brexit<\/strong> process.<\/p>\n Alarm bells began ringing when he dropped out of the race, switched his allegiance to Boris Johnson, and suddenly became more sympathetic to a muscular approach with the EU.<\/p>\n Issues around Brexit were quickly superseded by the coronavirus<\/strong> pandemic though, with criticism and some compliments flowing to Mr Hancock’s door.<\/p>\n He was a voice in cabinet arguing for tighter restrictions and an early optimist on the possibility of vaccination as an exit route from the pandemic.<\/p>\n But he was also criticised for hospital shortages of protective equipment and struggles within the Test and Trace system.<\/p>\n His public target to reach 100,000 tests a day was hit, but led to accusations of showboating amid reports of the numbers being fiddled.<\/p>\n In the care sector too, his promise to put a “protective ring” around nursing homes rang hollow as thousands of elderly people were lost to the virus.<\/p>\n The then-health secretary dealt with these accusations with a characteristic quantity of tiggerish optimism, frequently cranking up the sincerity and pressing the emotional buttons to help land his points.<\/p>\n But a bitter dispute with former Downing Street advisor Dominic Cummings<\/strong> – and the revelation that the prime minister had called Mr Hancock “hopeless”<\/strong> – accelerated an erosion of his credibility.<\/p>\n His political death knell came when pictures of him kissing and cuddling a government official and long-time friend – in breach of his own COVID<\/strong> rules – surfaced in the newspapers.<\/p>\n Matt Hancock met Gina Coladangelo<\/strong> while they were both students in Oxford in the 1990s.<\/p>\n Like many in Westminster, the pair studied politics, philosophy and economics but became friends while working on the university radio station.<\/p>\n While Ms Coladangelo left to pursue a career in marketing and lobbying, Mr Hancock ventured into politics before joining the Bank of England as an economist.<\/p>\n He then joined the staff of then-shadow chancellor George Osborne, eventually becoming chief of staff.<\/p>\n Privately educated with a slick media style and passion for technology, Mr Hancock appeared every inch the David Cameron<\/strong>-era modern Tory.<\/p>\n After being elected as MP for West Suffolk in 2010, he had become a business minister by 2012 and was appointed culture secretary by Theresa May in 2018.<\/p>\n Within Westminster, he garnered a reputation as an enthusiastic – if ambitious – operator.<\/p>\n Digital videos of the plucky minister trying his hand at various photo-friendly activities like free-running and office cricket frequently edged from the creative to the cringe-worthy.<\/p>\n The launch of his own smartphone app was also met with mocking, as was a mooted idea for him to deliver a conference speech as a hologram projected on to the stage.<\/p>\n Initiatives like this fed a creeping suspicion among some of style over substance, and questions lingered about whether Mr Hancock found it too easy to shift allegiances.<\/p>\n These issues didn’t cause his downfall, but may have contributed to the conspicuous lack of public support he received from fellow Tories in his moment of need.<\/p>\n The high-flyer with no safety net to save him when he fell.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/21\/06\/768x432\/skynews-hancock-gina-coladangelo_5426730.jpg\")
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