Minister caught having affair on CCTV takes moral high ground over legal win due to technicality

Matt Hancock (who else could it be) was full of gusto yesterday.

He took to Twitter to slam Jolyon Maugham’s Good Law Project for losing a legal case against the government.

For those of you who don’t know the Good law project has been holding the government account for dodgy PPE contracts going to friends of the Conservative Party.

Hancock tweeted: “BREAKING: Jolyon Maugham’s @GoodLawProject lose another court case The discredited GLP has been accused of ‘serious carelessness’ & should stop wasting court time with their conspiracy theories I’m grateful to everyone who worked so hard in the pandemic to save lives.”

BREAKING: Jolyon Maugham's @GoodLawProject lose another court case

The discredited GLP has been accused of 'serious carelessness’ & should stop wasting court time with their conspiracy theories

I'm grateful to everyone who worked so hard in the pandemic to save lives

— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) March 24, 2022

So how did they lose case?

Well the government did win this case, but it is not exactly the comprehensive victory Handsy Hancock would have you believe.

According to the Good Law Project themselves:

Today, a split Court of Appeal has rejected our appeal, with one judge for us and two against.

Our external solicitors emailed the claim form that commences proceedings directly to the Government lawyers working on the case, as they had been asked to do, but failed to send it to a generic “new proceedings” email address by way of formal “service”, as had also been requested. The Government’s lawyers confirmed receipt of the papers almost immediately after receiving them but did not flag that the “new proceedings” email had not been copied until one day after the deadline for service.

This mistake had no practical consequences for the Government’s ability to prepare a defence, since their solicitors were aware of the claim well before the deadline. However, two of the Court of Appeal judges hearing the case have found that it should nonetheless prevent the claim from being pursued. 

Reactions

So anyone who actually looked past Hancock’s tweet and into the reason for the result may not side with his version of the case, and a LOT of people didn’t

1.

It was a technical cock-up – you’re not off the hook yet. https://t.co/Ts95gQ8Jw4

— Mr Ethical (@nw_nicholas) March 25, 2022

2.

@MattHancock calling someone else discredited. Hypocritical, funny, sad. https://t.co/dFe7Ag5E5u

— Glenn Milieu (@leftnotlabour) March 25, 2022

3.

BREAKING: It's payday 🙌 and discredited minister Matt Handcock's pathetic tweet, has just encouraged me to pop another donation through to @GoodLawProject https://t.co/pYDd3AnNJ8

— MissTrixxy (@MTrixxy) March 25, 2022

4.

For clarity, the case wasn’t lost. It wasn’t heard due to an administrative error. That is a very different thing.
Imagine being so scared of what you’re hiding being discovered, that you resort to tweeting BREAKING falsehoods. Dear God man, have some self respect. #MattHanCock https://t.co/YByMCgemNP

— Sohail Shah (@KingOfSunshine) March 25, 2022

5.

Look who has crawled out of his kissing corner. https://t.co/h4IiSMPKTm

— The Justice Game 💙😷 (@TheJusticeGame2) March 25, 2022

6.

Imagine winning a case on a procedural technicality and crowing like this. https://t.co/TqnIDT59KH

— Simon HB (@norock) March 25, 2022

7.

A cursory search for "Matt Hancock broke the law" demonstrates Matt Hancock has not only been accused of breaking the law, he has been found to have broken it … several times … with doubtless more to come https://t.co/MoJaSaWPkc

— Martin Enjoying the Sea Front at Wits-End 💙 (@GetMeZarniwoop) March 25, 2022

8.

That’s not correct, is it. The case was not heard due to a small administrative error that was taken advantage of to avoid scrutiny. Let’s see if the Supreme Court upholds justice. You have nothing to hide, right?

— Robin Shipston (@RobinShipston) March 24, 2022

9.

The sheer gall when you are completely discredited yourself…

— rob j (@robjeffecology) March 24, 2022

10.

You didn't work hard to save lives? pic.twitter.com/yLccj6fxs7

— David Foxon (@DavidFoxon2) March 24, 2022

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