One Direction's Niall Horan hits out at "smug and slippery" Matt Hancock

Former One Direction singer Niall Horan has hit out at Matt Hancock over the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, branding the Health Secretary “smug and slippery.”

Posting on Twitter, Horan wrote: “I get the idea that Health secretary Matt Hancock thinks he’s a lot more intelligent than he actually is.

“Always very smug and slippery. Excuse me but Matt you’ve had a major howler here and it’s about time you handed facts out instead of worrying about what the opposition thinks.”

Niall Horan criticised Matt Hancock on Twitter

While it remains unclear what exactly Hancock did to spark Horan’s outburst, it comes as the government faces intense pressure to provide answers about their handling of the crisis.

At the time of writing, over 33,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK – the highest of any country in Europe.

Hancock has also been criticised in the last week for continually failing to meet a target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day.

The daily number of tests fell back below 100,000 on Monday, marking the eighth day out of 10 it failed to reach six figures since the target was first reached at the end of April.

Posting on Twitter earlier today, Hancock said testing had since risen to over 126,000 on Wednesday (May 13).

The government has also been criticised for the amount of coronavirus deaths in care homes, with recent figures indicating that care home deaths accounted for some 40 per cent of Covid-19 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending May 1.

The UK still remains in lockdown, but with some restrictions lifted after Boris Johnson announced details of a new COVID Alert system and gave an update on the UK’s lockdown restrictions in his latest national address.

People in the UK are now allowed to enjoy unlimited exercise, as well as sitting in parks with friends outside their immediate households.