Matt Hancock flouts his own rules as he drinks in parliament bar after 10pm curfew!

The health minister also made a crass joke about the Government’s test and trace failings.  He arrived at the bar just before a 9.40pm vote, ordered a glass of wine and said: ‘The drinks are on me – but Public Health England are in charge of the payment methodology so I will not be paying anything.’

His bad taste joke came after he had tried to explain to Parliament why the quango had lost nearly 16,000 positive tests – a fiasco which Labour claimed had put ‘lives at risk’.

The Mail on Sunday reports that a senior Tory said that Mr Hancock remained in the Smoking Room bar until at least 10.25pm, despite Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisting that Commons venues must abide by the same 10pm drink-up-and-leave curfew as all English pubs.

In a carefully worded statement last night, a spokesman for Mr Hancock said: ‘No rules have been broken.

‘The Secretary of State was in the Smoking Room prior to the vote that evening.

‘The Secretary of State left the Smoking Room to vote. The vote took place at 9:42pm. ‘The Secretary of State then departed the Parliamentary estate to go home.’

Asked whether Mr Hancock had returned to the bar after voting and before he went home, the spokesman failed to respond.

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