Matt Hancock’s leaked WhatsApp messages have revealed the former health secretary’s scramble to save his job after his rule-breaking affair with his aide was revealed.
The attempt at crisis control lasted 41 hours after scandalous photos of the ex-minister with aide Gina Coladangelo were published.
The exchanges are among the latest set of WhatsApp conversations to emerge from the leak of more than 100,000 messages by journalist Isabel Oakeshott to The Telegraph.
After receiving a call The Sun editor Victoria Newton at 6.54pm on 24 June about the fact that his affair would soon become public, Mr Hancock informed Boris Johnson and then went home to break the news to his wife and children.
Leaked conversations show Mr Hancock was discussing media strategy with his special advisor, Dominic Poole, in the hours that followed as they went back and forth about whether any rules were broken.
As he awaits publication, Mr Hancock asked Mr Poole: “How bad are the pics?”
Told it’s a “snog and heavy petting”, he replied: “How the f*** did anyone photograph that?”
Mr Hancock can be seen asking Mr Poole to “keep the focus” on Ms Coladangelo’s appointment, rather than whether the embrace and kiss had broken any social distancing laws.
The messages also show the reaction of Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo to a video obtained by The Sun.
Ms Coladangelo worked as a paid adviser for the government at the time, acting as a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care.
In response to the video showing the two kissing, Ms Coladangelo said: “OMFG.”
Mr Hancock said: “Crikey. Not sure there’s much news value in that and I can’t say it’s very enjoyable viewing.”
In his diaries, worked on with Ms Oakeshott and published last year, Mr Hancock said that he resigned as health secretary after colleagues failed to defend him publicly.
Mr Hancock said that Mr Johnson had assured him he could carry on even though he and Ms Coladangelo had been pictured kissing in his office in breach of his own social-distancing guidelines.
But after the story broke, Mr Hancock said he found himself “increasingly isolated” politically and was left with no choice but to quit.
He had tried to draw in more than 25 MPs to publicly defend him, including eight former and current ministers, but came up empty.
The leaked messages now show Mr Hancock and his advisers discussing among themselves and liaising with Number 10 about how to respond to the story, amid an unfolding political storm.
Mr Poole asked Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo to think “really hard” about whether they could have broken any Covid rules.
At the time, the social distancing rule in place was to keep 1m apart when 2m was not possible.
Mr Hancock pondered: “Other than obviously the 1m+ I honestly can’t think of any.”
He adds: “The worst they can do is ‘kissed before they legalised hugs’.”
The messages also reveal that he asked his former mentor and ex-chancellor George Osborne for advice on a statement as he prepared to resign. Mr Osborne advised him to remove a declaration of love for Ms Coladangelo and include an apology to his loved ones.
In his book, Pandemic Diaries, Mr Hancock revealed that the video announcing his resignation was farcically filmed at Mr Johnson’s country residence, by the ex-PM himself on a mobile phone.
“In the end, the great machinery of the State was nowhere. It was just me and the PM fumbling around with an iPhone. He stood on the grass, holding the phone while I said my piece. It took a few goes to get it right,” he wrote.
“He nodded sympathetic encouragement so much throughout the first take that the camera waved up and down. In the end it wasn’t perfect, but I was beyond caring: I had to get it out.”
