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31st Jan 2023

“I couldn’t visit Derek in hospital”: Kate Garraway grills Matt Hancock

Sarah McKenna Barry

Kate spoke about how she wasn’t able to see her husband when he was very ill.

Kate Garraway has challenged former health secretary Matt Hancock for breaking Covid-19 guidelines while she was unable to visit her hospitalised husband.

Kate’s husband Derek Draper became very ill with Covid during the pandemic, and spent time in a medically induced coma. He now requires round-the-clock care for his condition.

Matt Hancock, who was the health secretary at the start of the pandemic, ended up resigning after video footage emerged of him breaking his own guidelines on social distancing.

Hancock appeared on Good Morning Britain this morning, where Kate grilled him over his behaviour.

The discussion began when Susanna Reid asked Kate how she feels to be sat with Hancock, and if she is able to put her personal feelings “to one side”.

Kate had some positive things to say about some of the government policies, though she went on to recall how she felt when she saw that he was taking part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!

“As soon as it was announced he was going in, people immediately contacted me because I’ve been in the jungle,” she said.

“When you talk about the moment that you fell in love, and was seen – was caught – falling in love, and whether it was guidelines or legal, and you say that’s irrelevant, because you morally felt that you did wrong.

“I suppose the problem is that because you were health secretary and because at that time I couldn’t visit Derek in hospital, he couldn’t see his kids, thousands of others couldn’t go and see the people they loved for various reasons because they were following the guidelines.”

Kate then said that his entry into I’m A Celeb gave people the impression that Hancock didn’t understand why people were angry with him.

Hancock responded saying that he understands Kate’s point about the public being upset with him.

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