Boris Johnson has been branded “spineless” after refusing to sack Matt Hancock after the health secretary admitted a lockdown-breaching clinch with an aide.
A Downing Street spokesperson said that the prime minister continues to have “full confidence” in Mr Hancock as health secretary, despite his admission that he breached social distancing rules when embracing married 43-year-old Gina Coladangelo.
After Mr Hancock released a statement saying he was “very sorry”, the spokesperson said: “The prime minister has accepted the health secretary’s apology and considers the matter closed”
But Labour insisted the cabinet minister’s actions amounted to “a blatant abuse of power and a clear conflict of interest” which rendered his position “hopelessly untenable”.
And Tory peer Baroness Warsi told Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch: “I think it’s a bad decision by Matt and a bad decision by the PM.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “This matter is definitely not closed, despite the government’s attempts to cover it up.
“Matt Hancock appears to have been caught breaking the laws he created while having a secret relationship with an aide he appointed to a taxpayer-funded job. The prime minister recently described him as ‘useless’ – the fact that even now he still can’t sack him shows how spineless he is.”
Labour has also written to the prime minister, the cabinet secretary and the government’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests calling for an investigation into whether or not Mr Hancock breached the ministerial code.
In a statement, Mr Hancock – married for 15 years to wife Martha, with whom he has three children -said: “I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances.
“I have let people down and am very sorry. I remain focused on working to get the country out of this pandemic, and would be grateful for privacy for my family on this personal matter.”
Asked what he would say to voters who felt that his refusal to discipline Mr Hancock showed there was “one rule for them and another rule for us”, the Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister has said previously that the vast majority of the public have followed the rules throughout the pandemic and we are extremely thankful to them for doing so.”
Mr Hancock’s future was thrown into doubt by The Sun’s publication of photographs of him with Ms Coladangelo, a university friend he appointed to a director’s role at theDepartment of Health and Social Care.
The pictures, apparently recorded on security cameras in his DHSC office, were taken with social distancing rules in place at workplaces and two weeks before the ban on hugging between people in different households was lifted.
The health secretary was already facing questions about his appointment of the millionaire PR executive to the £15,000-a-year role without it being properly announced.
The No 10 spokesperson declined to reveal whether the PM and Mr Hancock discussed the affair face-to-face or by phone this morning, saying only that the pair took part in a regular daily coronavirus briefing.
Under repeated questioning, the spokesperson refused to say whether Mr Johnson believes Mr Hancock, 42, broke the law or the ministerial code of conduct.
And he also refused to say whether the PM consulted his independent adviser on ministerial standards, Lord Geidt before declaring his confidence in his cabinet colleague.
Under recent changes to his terms of reference, Lord Geidt – appointed after his predecessor resigned when Mr Johnson overruled his bullying finding against Priti Patel – now has the power to go to the PM and advise him an inquiry should be launched into a potential breach of the code.
Mr Hancock ducked out of a planned appearance at a vaccine centre at Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk, and a regular No 10 media briefing was delayed by an hour, suggesting that discussions over how to deal with the scandal were ongoing for some time.
Downing Street insisted that the process of Ms Coladangelo’s appointment – firsst as an unpaid adviser last year, and then as a non-executive director to the DHSC – “followed correct procedure”.
Challenged over whether Mr Hancock’s actions may have breached the laws which he himself signed onto the statute book, the PM’s spokesperson said only: “The details of the guidance and rules have been published throughout the pandemic and they are all available for people to view.”
Mr Hancock, 42, has been married for 15 years to Martha and has three children with her.
Ms Dodds said: “If Matt Hancock has been secretly having a relationship with an adviser in his office – who he personally appointed to a taxpayer-funded role – it is a blatant abuse of power and a clear conflict of interest.
“The charge sheet against Matt Hancock includes wasting taxpayers’ money, leaving care homes exposed and now being accused of breaking his own Covid rules.
“His position is hopelessly untenable. Boris Johnson should sack him.”
And Liberal Democrats said: “Hypocrite Hancock should go.”
Party health spokesperson Munira Wilson described Hancock as “a terrible Health Secretary and should have been sacked a long time ago for his failures”.
And she added: “This latest episode of hypocrisy will break the trust with the British public. He was telling families not to hug loved ones, while doing whatever he liked in the workplace.
“It’s clear that he does not share the public’s values. Rules for them and rules for us is no way to run a country.
“From the PPE scandal, the crisis in our care service and the unbelievably poor test and trace system, he has utterly failed. It is time for the health secretary to go.”
There was a notable absence of Tory MPs coming to Mr Hancock’s defence on social media or broadcast.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps tried to dodge questions about his Cabinet colleague in a round of media appearances.
Mr Shapps argued it was an “entirely personal issue for Matt Hancock” and insisted all appointments went through “an incredibly rigorous process”.
“The health secretary been working very hard rolling out this vaccine programme – and I’ll leave it there,” he told Sky News.
At the time the photo was taken, indoor gatherings between people from different households were against the law, unless they came under an exemption such as being “reasonably necessary” for work.
Advice against hugging loved ones in England was not lifted until 11 days later on 17 May.
Official guidance said that people who need to meet at work should remain two metres apart – or one metre if mitigating measures such as face-coverings were used.
