'Naughty boy Matt Hancock' street art disappears from Sheffield in less than a day
A street art piece of Matt Hancock with his trousers down disappeared from a Sheffield wall less than a day after it was put up.
Around 6pm on Tuesday (June 30), a spray painted portrait of the sacked health secretary debuted on the wall of the former Henderson Relish Factory, on Leavygreave Road.
It depicted a bashful Mr Hancock with his trousers down holding a sign that read ‘naughty boy’.
However, by the following morning, the piece had disappeared.
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It is yet unclear if the portrait – which was screwed into place rather than sprayed directly onto the wooden facade – was taken down by officials or if has simply been stolen and joined some passerby’s private collection.
Sheffield street artist Marquis de Rabbit claimed responsibility for the creation, and told the Star: “That’s how it is with street art sometimes. Sometimes it gets taken down pretty quickly.”
The self-styled Marquis created the piece in response to the recent scandal against the former health secretary, who resigned after CCTV footage showed him kissing his aide Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office in early May in breach of coronavirus restrictions he helped create.
The Sheffield artist – who did not give his real name – said: “I just thought about the hypocrisy of the situation. It felt like being told by a teacher in school not to smoke who then takes your cigs and has a puff before they go back to class.
"I can see how people can lose their trust in government. Hopefully he’s not being replaced by someone just as bad.”
On June 27, Matt Hancock resigned and was replaced by former chancellor and home secretary Sajid Javid.
Sheffield City Council and the University of Sheffield – which owns the building – have both been contacted to ask if any of their teams took the piece down.
Marq. Rabbit said: "I put the piece up on Tuesday, but it didn’t stick around long apparently. It’s the nature of street art though, it comes and goes.
"I just sort of enjoy going around putting up stencils here and there. People do call it graffiti, but I don’t call it that. I just like to do nice pieces.”