A Tory MP is among the latest political figures calling for the health secretary to quit.
Duncan Baker’s call comes after Matt Hancock was pictured breaching social distancing rules by kissing his aide, Gina Coladangelo.
Baker said he could not condone Hancock’s behaviour “in any shape”.
Lawyers explained why Hancock may have broken the law on Covid rules, but the minister only admitted breaching guidance, the Evening Standard has reported.
And Coladangelo’s job at the Department of Health and Social Care came under close scrutiny.
Tory MP says Hancock apology ‘not enough’
Hancock apologised after The Sun revealed he was having an affair, but Baker said the apology is not enough.
“In my view people in high public office and great positions of responsibility should act with the appropriate morals and ethics that come with that role,” the Norwich MP told Eastern Daily Press.
Baker added: “Matt Hancock, on a number of measures, has fallen short of that. As an MP who is a devoted family man, married for 12 years with a wonderful wife and children, standards and integrity matter to me.
“I will not in any shape condone this behaviour and I have in the strongest possible terms told the Government what I think.”
SNP
Baker’s statements come after the Scottish National Party said Boris Johnson clinging onto Hancock is putting “vital public health measures” at risk.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said on Friday the prime minister had accepted Hancock’s apology for breaching coronavirus lockdown restrictions and “considers the matter closed.”
In response, the SNP said what happened cannot “simply be brushed under the carpet” and warned there are “very serious questions” for Hancock.
SNP deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said: “Boris Johnson risks jeopardising the vital public health measures in place the longer he desperately clings on to his shamed Health Secretary – just like he did with Dominic Cummings.
“The Prime Minister must at long last do the right thing and put his responsibilities to public health first.
“There must be public confidence in those setting the rules and it cannot be the case that it is one rule for the Tory elite and another for the rest of us.
UK public thinks Hancock should go
Among UK adults, 58 per cent think Hancock should resign, and only 25 per cent don’t think he should, based on a poll by Savanta ComRes.
And a group which represents those who lost loved ones because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice, also called for Hancock to go.
The group wrote to prime minister Boris Johnson, urging him to sack Hancock from his role.
Hypocrisy
Hancock has been accused of “Tory Hypocrisy” for criticising Sage government adviser Professor Neil Ferguson over breaching lockdown last year to have an affair.
In May 2020, the health secretary claimed Professor Ferguson had an “extraordinary” behaviour which left him “speechless”.
He told Sky News: “I think that he took the right decision to resign.”
And he added he could not bring himself to keep Ferguson in his job: “That’s just not possible in these circumstances.”
Hancock insisted last year that “social distancing rules are there for everyone, they are incredibly important and they are deadly serious.”
Related: Sack Hancock or risk health measures, SNP tells Johnson
Flashback: Hancock said epidemiologist ‘right to resign’ over lockdown affair
Hancock ‘affair’: Gina Coladangelo’s brother ‘leads firm with NHS contracts’
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