The Health Secretary said: ‘We haven’t been away’.
(Picture: Good Morning Britain)Health Secretary Matt Hancock has denied that there was a Government boycott of Good Morning Britain after 201 days since a minister appeared on the ITV programme.
Mr Hancock’s appearance on Monday was the first by a member of the Government since April.
However, the Health Secretary denied that there was a Government boycott of the show and that he had come on the show “as soon as the diaries allowed”.
Presenter Piers Morgan asked the Health Secretary: “Where the hell have you all been?”
Mr Hancock responded: “Last week, I was on actually - albeit briefly. And you asked me to come back as soon as diaries would allow… and here I am.”
Mr Morgan asked if it was “right and proper” that him, the entire cabinet and Boris Johnson had boycotted the show, asking him: “Did you support the boycott?”
The Health Secretary replied: "I'm here to answer all of the questions that you have on behalf of all of your viewers.
“I was asked last week to come on and I said I would as soon as I could and here I am.”
The boycott’s end comes after Dominic Cummings left Downing Street
REUTERSAsked again if he supported the boycott, he added: "We haven't been away, I have been working incredibly hard building the testing capacity that we're talking about today, expanding the number of tests available, making progress on the vaccine which is really good, and we've got more good news about another vaccine going into trials today."
The Health Secretary also denied that NHS workers in England are going to be forced to pay hospital parking charges when their counterparts in Scotland and Wales were not.
It comes following claims in the Mail on Sunday that NHS staff at London's Kings College Hospital Trust face a 200% hike in parking fees from December 1st.
"There are not those charges now, and there will not be during this pandemic", Mr Hancock said.
"Once the pandemic is over then we will no doubt return to this question, but there is no doubt that the policy is very clear, and I haven't seen any proposal that this would have started in December in the hospital in question."
Boris Johnson’s Cabinet failed to appear on the show for six months
Getty ImagesHe said that he had been assured by the hospital that they were following Government rules on parking fees for staff.
GMB’s presenters have claimed that there has been a boycott of their show since April.
Mr Morgan said in a tweet on Sunday: “BREAKING: Just had a call from Downing Street. The 201-day Government boycott of @GMB is over & Health Secretary @MattHancock will be appearing on the show tomorrow morning.”
Mr Morgan had previously accused the Government of “cowardice” for not fielding members of the Cabinet for questioning.
The announcement follows the departure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings and director of communications Lee Cain from Downing Street this week.
Mr Hancock refused to be drawn on his past defence of a breach of coronavirus guidelines by Mr Cummings.
"I don't care about that I care about the future", he told Piers Morgan.
Last month, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was “pretty disgraceful” for UK Government ministers to refuse to appear on a breakfast TV show during the coronavirus pandemic, when she appeared on the show.
It is not the first boycott of a popular programme by the Government.
Last December Downing Street began a boycott of Radio 4's Today programme that lasted until the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
