Families who lost loved ones to Covid have demanded a publisher refuses to allow Matt Hancock to write a book about his handling of the pandemic.
Covid-19 Families For Justice warn the former Health Secretary he should not look to "rewrite history" and "cast himself as some sort of hero".
It comes amid reports HarperCollins had approached the MP for West Suffolk, who was forced to resign after being snapped breaking his own Covid rules by embracing aide Gina Coladangelo.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the book offer is designed to allow the former top Tory to tell his version of events of what went on inside Government as the pandemic struck, and the subsequent search for and rollout of the vaccines.
The publisher has flatly denied the report and said it has "no knowledge of such a book".
But the campaign group, which represents some 4,000 families, has written to the publisher urging them to rule out publishing any such book.
It comes ahead of the public inquiry into the Government's disastrous handling of the pandemic, which is due to start in the spring.
Susie Flitham, spokeswoman for the families, said: "Harper Collins have a real opportunity to show that somethings are more important than opportunistic sales.
"The very notion that the former health secretary, who presided over the worst public health disaster ever, should receive a single penny to be able to rewrite history and cast himself as some sort of hero before an inquiry has even started is not only an insult to us as the bereaved, but frankly tramples on our lost loved ones memory.
"Mr Hancock needs to sit down and put together all the emails from his private Gmail regarding his dealings with the pandemic rather than think of ways to attempt to salvage his rightfully tarnished reputation.
"As a man who prior to the pandemic was most famous for having built an app in homage to himself we possibly shouldn't be surprised about his clear obsession with his self-image but his continued disrespect and ignorance towards the bereaved community somehow never fails to cause hurt.
"We'd be more than happy to meet with Mr Hancock to explain to him how his actions are painful to us but for some reason he's never once accepted our invites to meet."
A spokeswoman for Mr Hancock had said: “Matt has been approached to write a book about his experiences in the pandemic, but no decisions have been made.
"There is no deal. The people who were heroic during the pandemic were the NHS staff who worked round the clock to save lives.”
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said on Twitter about the report: “It is absolutely disgusting that Matt Hancock gets to put his spin on events – and his failures – for a bumper pay day before bereaved families get the truth about the government’s failures and mishandling of the pandemic in a public inquiry.”
In a separate statement, a Labour spokesman said: “The Cabinet Office should block the publication of this tasteless cashing in on tragedy.”
HarperCollins has said: "As we told the Mail before it ran its story about HarperCollins and Matt Hancock, we have no knowledge of such a book and are not in talks. The story is incorrect."
