Matt Hancock: Calls for health secretary to quit after kissing colleague

Gina Coladangelo and Matt HancockPA Media
By Doug Faulkner
BBC News

Matt Hancock is facing calls to quit as health secretary from fellow Tory MPs after he breached social distancing guidance by kissing a colleague.

The health secretary apologised after pictures emerged of him with Gina Coladangelo, reportedly taken on 6 May.

Conservative MPs Duncan Baker and Sir Christopher Chope have said he should go, while former secretary of state Esther McVey said she would have quit in Mr Hancock's position.

The PM considers the matter closed.

A Downing Street spokesman said Boris Johnson accepted Mr Hancock's apology, adding the prime minister had full confidence in the health secretary.

Labour and the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group have also called for the health secretary to be sacked.

On Friday, The Sun published pictures of Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo, who are both married with three children, kissing. It said they had been taken inside the Department of Health on 6 May, leading the health secretary to say he was "very sorry".

North Norfolk's MP Mr Baker, who was the first Conservative MP to publicly call for Mr Hancock to quit, told his local newspaper the Eastern Daily Press that the health secretary had "fallen short" on a number of measures.

Ms McVey, Conservative MP for Tatton, told GB News she would have resigned had she been in Mr Hancock's position and hoped he was "thinking the same thing".

She added that it would be "viewed more admirably" if he came forward and did not have to have it "pushed upon him".

Christchurch MP Sir Christopher told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that Mr Hancock's position had become "untenable", saying that his constituents were "seething".

"For that reason, the sooner he does the honourable thing and announces his resignation, the better - because otherwise it is not going to go away," he said.

"This is going to run and run, and it will impact adversely upon all of those of us who are involved in public life who are trying to set an example."

He added that Mr Hancock had been "in charge of making the lives of millions of people a relative misery" but that they had been complying.

"Now he's shown by his actions, that there's one law for him and a different law for everybody else."

Conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie, a former adviser to Mr Johnson, told BBC News Mr Hancock would probably survive in his job as there were concerns in No 10 that his sacking could lead to more scrutiny around other ministers and create a "domino effect".

Meanwhile, the families of Covid victims warned the breach of social-distancing guidelines could damage government messaging on fighting the virus.

Rivka Gottlieb, from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight: "If he were to announce another lockdown or further regulations why would anybody listen to someone who doesn't follow the rules themselves?"

She compared it to the prime minister's former senior adviser Dominic Cummings' trip from London to Durham during lockdown last March, when, despite widespread condemnation, Mr Johnson stuck by his aide.

Cabinet colleagues have defended the health secretary with Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps all backing him publicly.

The reaction to Matt Hancock's rule-breaking certainly has echoes of Dominic Cummings' trip to Barnard Castle: The health secretary is facing similar accusations of "one rule for them" hypocrisy. The prime minister has so far stood by him in a similar way.

Some Conservatives are worried the public reaction could be similar too but, unlike with Dominic Cummings, most Tories have so far been notably silent.

There is no co-ordinated public call for Matt Hancock to go.

There is no big show of support either.

Perhaps the more important question might be what they are saying to him privately over the coming days.

Matt Hancock is an MP with ambition, so what his colleagues in Parliament think will matter.

If he goes, it is much more likely to be through a resignation than a sacking.

If MPs' inboxes begin to fill up with angry correspondence though, will the mood change?

Concerns have also been raised about the process which saw Ms Coladangelo appointed as a non-executive director of the Department of Health.

Ms Coladangelo - a friend of the health secretary since they worked on a student radio station at Oxford University - was appointed to the role - which comes with a £15,000 salary and involves 15 to 20 days of work per year - last September.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has written to the cabinet secretary - the UK's most senior civil servant - asking him to investigate whether Mr Hancock broke ministerial rules by failing to declare the relationship.

A No 10 spokesman insisted the "correct procedure" had been followed but refused to go into detail.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, told Today the relationship should have been disclosed, "if that information is kept secret from them that really is unforgiveable", he said.

"Inevitably, there would have been issues where there was the potential to challenge the secretary of state from the board. If one of those members was having an intimate relationship with the secretary of state, it completely undermines those decisions," he added.

Labour said Mr Hancock's position had become "hopelessly untenable" and has called for him to be sacked.

SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald said the prime minister "risks jeopardising vital public health measures" by retaining Mr Hancock as health secretary, saying there must be public confidence in those setting the rules.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey tweeted: "Matt Hancock told millions of people that they couldn't hug their loved ones, and now refuses to resign even though he broke his own guidelines. The fact the prime minister has failed to take action shows the utter contempt this government has for the British people."

Labour's Anneliese Dodds on Matt Hancock: The prime minister needs to act

In May last year, Mr Hancock said it was right for epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson to resign from the government's scientific advisory group (Sage) after it emerged he had broken lockdown rules when a woman he was reportedly in a relationship with visited his home.

The Sun carries further images of Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo on its front page on Saturday.

The paper says the latest image is of the pair at a restaurant on 23 May - 17 days after the picture of the kiss.

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