But was it even humiliation that prompted Hancock to quit? After watching on cheerfully while his reputation was trashed by Dominic Cummings, a Commons Select Committee and the Queen, you’d wonder if Matt Hancock can actually spell the word or feel emotion. There’s an alternative explanation for his resignation volte face that’s every bit as believable but far more worrying. The real story seems to be that Tory libertarians have long been hostile to "Covid cautious" Matt Hancock. Yip, you read that right. The Health Secretary on whose watch the UK has thrice been disastrously late to lockdown is nonetheless viewed as a fussy, o’er canny and restrictive operator by members of the Covid Recovery Group – inheritors of the European Research Group’s "freedom" mission.