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Matt Hancock: More calls for health secretary to quit after kissing aide - BBC News

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Gina Coladangelo and Matt Hancock
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Matt Hancock is facing calls to quit as health secretary 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.

Duncan Baker has become the first Tory MP to openly tell the government he should resign, while Labour and the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group have called for him to be sacked.

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.

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 told his local newspaper the Eastern Daily Press that the health secretary had "fallen short" on a number of measures.

"I will not in any shape condone this behaviour and I have in the strongest possible terms told the government what I think," he said.

Conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie, a former adviser to Mr Johnson, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Hancock had been "a good secretary of state" but should resign.

"When you undermine your own rules, you have to show the public that you understand the transgression you've made and you resign," he said.

Mr Montgomerie later told BBC News Mr Hancock would probably survive in his job as there were concerns in No10 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 Development Secretary Liz Truss and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps all backing him publicly.

Concerns have also been raised about 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's 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.

The Liberal Democrats said Mr Hancock should have been sacked for "his failures" long ago, adding, "this latest episode of hypocrisy will break the trust with the British public".

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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