Matt Hancock is under fire for receiving £10,000 from a top horse auctioneer that runs a multi-million-pound annual sale at Cheltenham Festival, openDemocracy can reveal.
The donation comes as local frustration mounts over an ‘overdue’ inquiry into why last year’s festival, held days before the UK went into its first national lockdown on 23 March, was allowed to proceed. Scientists say the four-day event, attended by 250,000 people, may have been responsible for more than ten thousand COVID-19 cases.
Hancock received £10,000 from Tattersalls in November, according to the latest register of ministers’ financial interests. The health secretary has received more than £140,000 from the company, which is the oldest bloodstock auctioneer in the world and the largest thoroughbred sales house in Europe, since being elected in 2010.
