Hancock survives Boris’ cabinet shake-up and remains health secretary

Matt Hancock has survived a thorough shake-up of the cabinet under Britain’s new Prime Minister and will remain as health secretary. 

Hancock, who replaced Jeremy Hunt as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in July 2018, managed to retain his position after Boris Johnson was sworn in as Prime Minister this week.

Hancock’s predecessor was not so lucky, with Hunt being shown the door along with a number of other senior Tories, including Chris Grayling, Liam Fox and business secretary, Greg Clark.

The health secretary alluded to have survived the cull via Twitter, posting on Wednesday night: “I love the NHS – it’s a great honour to be asked to drive forward the health & care of the nation – with big & exciting commitments from our new Prime Minister”.

I love the NHS – it’s a great honour to be asked to drive forward the health & care of the nation – with big & exciting commitments from our new Prime Minister

— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) July 24, 2019

A self-proclaimed techie, Hancock has been vocal about his desire to drive technological transformation in the NHS.

He has previously suggested that IT suppliers who refuse to advocate the use of interoperable data standards will be pushed out of NHS contracts.

However, not everyone has been pleased with his legacy to date, with his relationship with healthcare disruptor Babylon Health and his involvement in a TaxPayers’ Alliance paper on automation in the health service proving particularly contentious.