‘I’ve been called worse’: UK health sec accidentally praises ‘Daniel’ Rashford after footballer forces government u-turn

The UK government continues to find new ways to appear out of touch. The latest saw health secretary Matt Hancock mix up the name of one of England’s best footballers by thanking ‘Daniel’ Rashford for his work on school lunches.

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford’s campaign, to extend the children’s food voucher scheme into the summer holidays, forced the government into another embarrassing u-turn on Tuesday.

Denying that the 22-year-old footballer had nutmegged the government, Hancock made the cringe-worthy slip of the tongue on Sky News on Wednesday.

“Righty-ho, I will tell you what happened, the prime minister talked to Daniel Rashford, he considered it and made his decision – I think it’s terrific,” he said. Righty-ho indeed.

Unsurprisingly the mistake didn’t go unnoticed and ‘Daniel Rashford’ quickly shot to the top of the trending charts on Twitter in the UK, as the masses poured scorn on the hapless health minister.

Ex-England international turned TV presenter Gary Lineker quipped: “Good to see @MattHancock finally giving credit to footballers and Daniel Rashford in particular.” The message drew a response from Rashford himself, who noted that he’s been called “much worse” since he decided to lead the school meals campaign.

Hancock in turn replied with a head in hands emoji and added: “Too early. But in all seriousness Marcus you're a credit to the nation.”

The minister later tried to explain away the mistake, telling LBC radio that he had the Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe on his mind. “My seven-year-old listens to Harry Potter and reads Harry Potter avidly, including at 5.30 this morning when I got up to do this morning's media round,” he said.

Unsurprisingly that didn’t quite bring an end to the Twitter storm and ‘Marcus Radcliffe’ quickly climbed up the trending charts.

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