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Britain’s Matt Hancock resigns as health secretary after Covid-19 breach, affair with aide
- Hancock conceded he had let the public down after security camera footage showed him kissing colleague Gina Coladangelo in his office on May 6
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was ‘sorry’ to receive Hancock’s resignation, and that he should be ‘immensely proud’ of his service
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to re-establish his government’s authority after the health secretary resigned for breaking his own pandemic rules.
Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday after he was caught embracing a senior aide in his office, in breach of the Covid-19 social distancing guidelines he helped to create.
The episode rebounded immediately on Johnson, who had initially fought to keep Hancock in his job and then faced criticism for being too weak to fire the minister.
Two hours after Hancock resigned, the premier tried to draw a line under the controversy by naming former chancellor of the exchequer Sajid Javid as the new health secretary.
Yet his choice of replacement is also potentially dangerous. Javid himself resigned during a face-to-face argument with Johnson when a cabinet reshuffle went wrong in February last year.
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