Labour on Matt Hancock affair: “Boris Johnson should sack him”

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has declared that Boris Johnson “should sack” Matt Hancock following reports that the Health Secretary has been in a secret relationship with an aide during the pandemic.

The Sun today published details of an “explosive affair” between Hancock and Gina Coladangelo, who was hired as an adviser and then appointed as a non-executive director at the Department for Health and Social Care last year.

Responding to the story, a Labour spokesperson said ministers are “entitled to a private life” but raised concerns over her hiring and the possibility of “conflicts of interests or rules that have been broken”.

Dodds has now added: “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.”

There was initially no public record of Coladangelo being appointed as a non-executive director, a taxpayer-funded role that pays at least £15,000, but the hire and failure to declare was revealed by The Sunday Times in November last year.

Government minister Grant Shapps claimed this morning that the longtime friend of Hancock would have gone through a “very rigorous” process requiring “all sorts of civil service sign-off” before being appointed.

He added: “From a civil service point of view, you have to go through a very strenuous approach to appoint anybody to anything at all. From a private point of view, people are entitled to their own judgments but people’s private lives are people’s private lives, and I don’t think it’s the place of politicians to go commenting on them.”

Concerns have also been raised over whether Hancock broke Covid rules as The Sun has reported that its images capturing a kiss between the two were from May 6th, before intimate contact with people outside your household was allowed.

Update, 12.20pm: Hancock has refused to resign but has apologised and admitted that he breached the coronavirus lockdown rules that as Health Secretary he has led the way in setting and promoting.

He 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.”