Matt Hancock responds after being caught wearing Newcastle United shirt auctioned to NHS three years ago

Matt Hancock has been called out after sharing a video to TikTok cheering on Newcastle United ahead of their Wembley match over the weekend.

The former Health Secretary wore his signed Newcastle Utd FC jersey in the video, but viewers thought they'd seen that shirt somewhere before.

In the seemingly harmless ten-second TikTok, Hancock grinned down his camera and said: "So exciting. If you've been a Newcastle fan, we've waited years for this.

"We haven't been to Wembley for years. This is the most exciting thing that happened since Kevin Keegan. Bring it on."

If you could bring yourself to look away from the former I'm A Celeb contestants eyes, you might have noticed that Hancock was wearing a Newcastle Utd jersey with an autograph on the left breast.

Some sports fanatics suspected that this was the same a jersey that Matt had actually promised to auction off for an NHS charity back in 2020.

Sport journalist Jonathan Liew pointed out on Twitter: "You'd think the best part of this is the fact he's wearing a signed shirt.

"In fact, the best part is that it appears to be the same signed shirt he promised to auction for an NHS charity in 2020."

Twitter

You see, back in 2020 when the UK was really feeling the wrath of Hancock's reign as Health Secretary in one of the worst crises the world had ever seen, radio DJ Chris Evans hosted an auction to raise money for NHS workers.

All money raised would go toward charity Scrubs Glorious Scrubs, which sewed non-surgical scrubs for NHS staff who, at the time, were desperately under-equipped.

Stars like Rod Stewart and Ant and Dec donated items for fans to bid on to help the cause.

All in all, just under £600,000 was raised for the charity.

Looking to get in on the good will - and the glory - Matt added his signed Newcastle United shirt to the auction.

According to Chronicle Live, Matt's donation helped raise a total of £1,850 for the charity.

In the description, Matt explained that the signed shirt 'was gifted to [him] by Uncle Dave', adding: "It was because of him that I am now a lifelong supporter and fan of Newcastle United.

"Signed by the team. The top as seen hanging behind me on the bookshelf during many of my Skype interviews - I will sign it for you also if you like."

ITV

Whoever placed the highest bid for Matt's jersey never revealed themselves or made it known whether he took Hancock up on his offer to sign the piece of memorabilia.

But now, some are wondering whether or not that bidder ever even received the jersey, since Matt was seen wearing it as recently as this weekend.

After the internet broke out into uproar over this discovery, a spokesperson for Matt put the speculation to rest.

Speaking to LBC, the spokesperson explained: "Matt put his signed Newcastle football shirt up for sale as part of Chris Evans' NHS charity appeal to raise money for scrubs, but the person who bought it very kindly gave Matt's beloved shirt back to him as a gift."