Matt Hancock posted on TikTok to clear up the latest rumour about him on Monday night – that he had gone on a trip to Turkey for veneers and hair transplants.
Yes, the former health secretary, runner-up in ITV’s I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, and owner of the now defunct Matt Hancock app, answered the internet’s most pressing questions this week.
Was that really Matt Hancock, Tory MP known for gaffes and breaking his own Covid rules, visiting a fake brand shop in Turkey?
And was it somehow part of an elaborate plan to get a makeover?
The rumour began after a TikToker shared a video of someone who looked remarkably like Hancock shopping in Turkey.
According to LBC, the clip was posted by Abdul al-Kadiri, who joked Hancock was “either there for a hair transplant or to get his teeth done”.
He then added speculated that people don’t go to Turkey for a holiday “especially at the moment – it’s freezing”.
The internet was naturally delighted at the thought of catching a politician unawares, so Twitter quickly lit up with widespread speculation about just what Hancock was doing there (if that was him at all).
But, sadly for Twitter, Hancock quickly dispelled the rumours with a 17-second selfie video on TikTok – his favourite platform for communication these days – entitled: “Rather takes the veneer off the story.”
Hancock, dressed in a suit, told the camera: “So I just got back to the office to find a journalist has called to ask if I went to Istanbul at the weekend to have hair transplants and veneers.
“No, I did go to Istanbul at the weekend. But this story has no teeth.”
He added, “It’s hair today gone tomorrow,” before giggling and shaking his head at his own pun – although he did not explain why he was actually in Turkey in the first place.
Hancock recently confirmed that he would be stepping down as an MP at the next general election, having lost the Tory whip once he entered the I’m A Celeb jungle.
It’s not clear what he intends to do next, but he been on TikTok amid his promise to find new ways to “reach people”.
At the end of last year, he posted one particularly video where he joked about the time he cried on live TV during the course of the pandemic.