MATT Hancock today admitted his lockdown-busting affair dramatically undermined people’s confidence in the rules – and should be a lesson to future politicians.
The ex-Health Secretary was grilled over THAT steamy clinch with top aide Gina Coladangelo at the Covid inquiry this morning.
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He was forced to resign in June 2021 after The Sun revealed the couple’s secret relationship during the pandemic.
Probe lawyer Hugo Keith quizzed him: “I’m sure you acknowledge the incredible offence and upset that was caused by that revelation.”
Pressed if it made the public less likely to obey lockdown, Mr Hancock replied: “Well, what I’d say is that the lesson for the future is very clear.
“And it is important that those who make the rules abide by them, and I resigned in order to take accountability for my failure to do.”
Following The Sun’s story Mr Hancock left his then wife Martha Millar and has since made his relationship with Ms Coladangelo official.
In his second day of evidence today, the politician also claimed schools could have stayed open in January 2021 if Britain had locked down sooner the previous autumn.
He said: “If we’d have taken action sooner, in September of 2020, then we might, for instance, have avoided the need to close schools, which in the end we had to as cases were so high by January”.
Mr Hancock claimed he had been agitating to impose restrictions earlier and that “the argument I was making, sadly, turned out to be accurate”.
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Yesterday he claimed that 90 per cent of the first wave deaths would have been avoided if Britain had locked down just three weeks earlier.
He also claimed to have been “in despair” the government pressed ahead with the tiers system despite knowing it “would not work”.
Rishi Sunak was also dragged into today’s session as WhatsApp revealed Matt Hancock feared the then Chancellor would apply “enormous pressure” to ease restrictions.
In an exchange with top civil servant Simon Case from autumn 2020, he said: “Rishi is in the room – contrary to the stupid rules – so the PM will be under enormous pressure to not do enough once again.”