The security camera in Matt Hancock’s office which videotaped the health secretary kissing his aide was an ‘outlier’ and not general policy, a ministers has said.
Cabinet office minister Julia Lopez said that as a rule “there are not cameras sited within ministers’ offices”.
In that regard the camera inside the Department of Health was an “outlier”, she said.
She attempted to calm an angry House of Commons by saying that ministers would have a “better understanding of why that occurred” once the Department of Health’s official investigation was complete.
But she faced anger from MPs, including former health ministers, who warned that national security could have been put at risk.
Mr Hancock dramatically resigned over the weekend after his affair was made public.
But his decision to step down has left lingering questions, including over how the videotape emerged in the first place.
Conservative MP Peter Bone was among those who warned that the revelation that the health secretary’s office contained recording devices “should be of national concern. If government and parliamentary offices have recording devices in them – whether audio, visual or both – it is of the utmost concern.”
As a result of the leak a series of security reviews have been launched across Westminster.
Whitehall security specialists are assisting the Department of Health with their investigation.
Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle also told MPs he had ordered a review of parliament’s security arrangements.
Earlier Sajid Javid, Mr Hancock’s replacement told reporters the camera had been disabled.
“I don’t think, as a general rule, there should be cameras in the Secretary of State’s office,” he said.
“I’ve never known that in the other five departments that I’ve run and I’m not really sure why there was one here, but I’m sure there will be more to this as the whole incident is investigated.”
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told Times Radio he did not see why there was any need for a camera in a minister’s office.
He said: “I’ve asked the question, and there no cameras in my office, and I wouldn’t have expected there to be, because the issue really for ministers and indeed all staff is safety and security. And once you’re through the cordon and the security area, then you can reasonably assume that the building is safe and that authorised people only are there. So I don’t see the need for security cameras in government, in that part of the government building.”
Ms Lopez also told MPs the government respected the Wilson doctrine – which dates back to Harold Wilson’s administration and bans the surveillance of MPs – and suggested there were no reasons to believe it had been breached.
