Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 2018.
A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2010.
Hancock was born in Cheshire, where his family runs a software business.
Hancock studied Philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Exeter College, Oxford and Economics at Christ's College, Cambridge.
He was an economist at the Bank of England before becoming an economic advisor (and later chief of staff) to George Osborne.
Hancock served in a number of middle-ranking ministerial positions from September 2013 under both David Cameron and Theresa May.
He was promoted to the Cabinet in the 2018 cabinet reshuffle where he was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in January 2018.
On 9 July 2018, after the promotion of Jeremy Hunt to Foreign Secretary, Hancock was named Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
On 25 May 2019, Hancock announced his intention to stand in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
He withdrew from the race on 14 June shortly after the first ballot.