British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has resigned after admitting that he broke COVID-19 social distancing guidelines during alleged affair with his aide, which reportedly caused an outrage in the country.
In his resignation letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hancock said that “we owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance.” “The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis,” he said in his resignation letter, which was published by Dowing Street.
Hancock also posted a video on his Twitter account, in which he said that “those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them, and that’s why I have got to resign.” Hancock has been under increasing pressure to quit after The Sun newspaper on Friday published pictures of him and his aide Gina Coladangelo kissing at the British Department of Health’s London HQ reportedly during office hours in May.
Hancock’s resignation came after embarrassing footage emerged of the health secretary in a clinch with his aide Coladangelo on May 6, when the public were still being advised not to hug people outside their household, the Guardian newspaper reported.Following Hancock’s resignation, Coladangelo left her role of a non-executive director at the Department of Health, Sky News reported.
In response to the resignation, Johnson said Hancock “should leave office very proud of what you have achieved — not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before COVID-19 struck us.” The prime minister said that he believes that Hancock’s “contribution to public service is far from over.”
The reactions from other British political figures, however, have not been so warm. Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, tweeted: “Matt Hancock is right to resign. But Boris Johnson should have sacked him.” Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, tweeted: “Hancock’s legacy as Health Secretary will be one of cronyism and failure.” “And the fact that Boris Johnson thought Hancock could just carry on regardless brings the Prime Minister’s judgement into question once again,” Davey added.
Meanwhile, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid has been appointed health secretary following the resignation of Hancock on Saturday, Downing Street said. Javid previously served as home secretary from 2018 to 2019 and then as chancellor of exchequer until February last year, when he was succeeded by Rishi Sunak.
Britain is the first European country that passed the grim mark of 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths. Britain has reported another 18,270 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, the highest since early February, according to official figures released Saturday.The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 4,717,811, while the total number of coronavirus-related deaths reaches 128,089, the latest official figures showed.
