Rocco Forte tells Matt Hancock to quit for his ‘shambolic’ coronavirus strategy

Hotelier tells Matt Hancock to quit for his ‘shambolic’ coronavirus strategy and piles pressure on Health Secretary to answer questions about Commons bar row – as poll reveals only NINE per cent believe he didn’t break curfew

  • Sir Rocco Forte says Hancock should pay for misguided lockdown with his job
  • He says the Government’s virus response has turned UK into ‘a totalitarian state’
  • In a scathing article for The Mail on Sunday, the hotel tycoon declares: ‘I believe it’s time to remove the figurehead [Mr Hancock] for the current shambolic handling of the crisis’

Boris Johnson is today urged to sack Matt Hancock for presiding over a ‘shambolic’ corona-virus strategy which is destroying jobs but failing to stop the disease.

Sir Rocco Forte demands that the Health Secretary should pay with his job for championing misguided lockdown policies now driving the hospitality sector into bankruptcy.

In a scathing article for The Mail on Sunday, the hotel tycoon declares: ‘I believe it’s time to remove the figurehead [Mr Hancock] for the current shambolic handling of the crisis, with policies marked by indecision, U-turns and blindness to the devastating impact of its actions.’

He laments how the Government’s virus response is turning the UK into ‘a totalitarian state’, with Ministers encouraging people to spy on neighbours while pubs and restaurateurs are required to employ ‘Gestapo-like tactics’ with customers over curfew and virus rules. 

And to illustrate the plight of the sector, Sir Rocco reveals how his own business will have to make redundant 80 of its 450 UK staff when the furlough scheme ends.

In a scathing article for The Mail on Sunday, the hotel tycoon declares: ‘I believe it’s time to remove the figurehead [Mr Hancock] for the current shambolic handling of the crisis’

Hotelier Sir Rocco Forte (pictured) declares: ‘I believe it’s time to remove the figurehead [Mr Hancock] for the current shambolic handling of the crisis, with policies marked by indecision, U-turns and blindness to the devastating impact of its actions’

Hotelier Sir Rocco Forte (pictured) declares: ‘I believe it’s time to remove the figurehead [Mr Hancock] for the current shambolic handling of the crisis, with policies marked by indecision, U-turns and blindness to the devastating impact of its actions’

The hotelier also takes aim at the Health Secretary for failing to respond to The Mail on Sunday’s repeated questions about whether he returned to the Commons Smoking Room bar where MPs breached the 10pm drinks curfew one evening earlier this month.

He writes: ‘The story has reinforced the infuriating impression that it’s one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us. It is time for Mr Hancock to go and for the Government to change tack and move to an approach that allows the economy to return to normal.’

His remarks come as a Deltapoll survey for The Mail on Sunday reveals that nearly half the country (49 per cent) believes the Health Secretary did breach the drinks curfew – with only nine per cent thinking he did not.

However, when ‘Don’t knows’ are excluded, the public verdict is even more damning, with 84 per cent believing he was drinking past 10pm, and only 16 per cent saying he was not.

Mr Hancock has refused 30 times to answer this paper’s question as to whether he returned to the Smoking Room after a 9.40pm vote on October 5 – despite a senior Tory MP insisting he saw him there drinking after the curfew.

The hotelier also takes aim at the Health Secretary for failing to respond to The Mail on Sunday’s repeated questions about whether he returned to the Commons Smoking Room bar where MPs breached the 10pm drinks curfew one evening earlier this month

The hotelier also takes aim at the Health Secretary for failing to respond to The Mail on Sunday’s repeated questions about whether he returned to the Commons Smoking Room bar where MPs breached the 10pm drinks curfew one evening earlier this month

For over a week the Health Secretary stuck to a carefully worded statement that said ‘no rules have been broken’, adding that although he was in the bar that night, he had ‘departed the parliamentary estate to go home’ after the vote.

In the Commons last week, Mr Hancock appeared to go further, saying: ‘People are generally following the rules and, as I did, going home at 10pm.’ That sparked mockery from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who quipped: ‘Can you tell The Mail on Sunday then?’

Quizzed on the subject again yesterday, the Health Secretary’s spokesman referred only to Mr Hancock’s original statement and his Commons remarks. 

In response to Sir Rocco’s wider criticisms, the spokesman said: ‘The Health Secretary is focused on protecting lives and livelihoods. There would be greater, longer-lasting economic damage if we failed to take action to get this virus under control.’

Despite dealing with the pandemic, Mr Hancock has still found time to post a series of images of himself on Instagram.

The Deltapoll survey puts the Tories on 42 per cent, like last month, with Labour up a point to 39 per cent. 

Co-founder Joe Twyman said the poll showed strong support for measures to tackle the second wave of the virus, but added: ‘There is deep concern about the impact these changes will have on the economy.’

lDeltapoll interviewed 1,589 adults online between October 22 and 24.