UK: Matt Hancock leaves after breaking COVID rules by kissing his assistant Coronavirus pandemic News
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The health secretary has resigned when a newspaper kissed a colleague last month for a photo.
British Health Minister Matt Hancock has resigned after kissing an aide after calling for breaches of social exclusion rules.
The 42-year-old resigned as Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday after The Sun tabloid published photos of the married minister embracing a woman appointed for a tax-funded mission to examine the activities of her department.
Photographs that angered people and politicians were taken on May 6, 11 days before the blockade rules were eased, to allow hugs and other physical contact with people outside one’s home.
Hancock has been at the center of the government’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, appearing on television and radio to enforce strict rules to contain the virus.
His departure means Johnson will have to appoint a new minister to take over the huge department in charge of overseeing the health service and tackling COVID-19 as the cases resume.
Johnson said Friday that he accepted Hancock’s apology and said the matter was closed, but the latter stepped up the pressure to step down.
“We owe it to the people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest, just as we have done in violation of the guidelines I have done,” Hancock said in his resignation letter.
Johnson responded by saying he was sorry to receive it.
“You should be incredibly proud of the service,” he wrote. “I appreciate your support and believe that your contribution to public service is a long way off.”
– Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) June 26, 2021
The leader of the opposition Labor Party also questioned whether he had broken the ministry code: the woman, a longtime friend of Hancock’s, was appointed non-executive director with a tax-funded salary to oversee the functioning of her ministry.
Labor leader Keir Starmer said on Twitter that Hancock was right in resigning. “But Boris Johnson had to be removed from office,” he added.
With 128,000 deaths, the UK has one of the highest official COVID-19 deaths in the world and Hancock, when he was almost three years old, was widely criticized for his initial treatment for the pandemic.
However, Johnson’s Conservative government has pushed for a rapid expansion of the vaccination program, with 84 percent of adults having a dose and 61 percent having both, ahead of most other countries.
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