My memories of Matt Hancock

‘You could be the next Ed Balls.’ That’s what I told a doe-eyed Bank of England official called Matthew Hancock when I was introduced to him at a drinks party 18 years ago. I needed a fiercely intelligent, hard-working, exuberant aide who could help me as shadow chancellor – just as Ed had been the brains behind Gordon Brown. As you can all see from the leaked WhatsApp messages, we’ve been in touch ever since. When I tell this story now to Matt and Ed, they’re both offended by the comparison. I guess these reality TV stars are hard to handle.

It’s not the first time messages meant only to be seen by Matt have gone astray. On the eve of the 2007 Tory conference an email containing all of the week’s announcements – such as my surprise promise to raise the inheritance tax threshold – was sent by mistake to Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock instead.