UK Health Secretary quits after breaking Covid rules by kissing aide
Matt Hancock kissed and embraced an aide in his office, enraging colleagues and public
LONDON British Health Secretary Matt Hancock quit on Saturday after he was caught breaking Covid-19 rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office, enraging colleagues and the public who have been living under lockdown.
In the latest scandal to rock a government that has overseen one of the highest official death tolls from the pandemic, Mr Hancock, who is married, wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign, saying he had let people down.
An increasing number of his fellow Conservative lawmakers had called for him to go after the Sun newspaper published photos on Friday of the 42-year-old embracing a woman whom he had appointed to a taxpayer-funded role to scrutinise his department.
"Those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that's why I've got to resign," he said in a video on Twitter.
Mr Hancock had been at the centre of the government's fight against the pandemic, routinely appearing on television to tell people to follow strict rules .
He will be replaced by Mr Sajid Javid, a former finance minister with widespread government experience but new to health.
Mr Javid was forced out early last year when he lost a power battle with Mr Johnson's then most senior ally, Mr Dominic Cummings.
Mr Javid will be tasked with helping the state-run Health Service recover from the pandemic and to deal with any future infection waves. Cases have started to rise in the last month.
Separately, the Britain's government will investigate how the footage found its way into the media.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told Sky News: "It is a matter I know the Department of Health will be looking into to understand exactly how that recording... got out of the system."
He later told Times Radio there were two issues for the government to look into - whether the camera in Mr Hancock's office was there "appropriately" and, if it was there for security reasons, "how that video got out to the public domain".
To make matters worse, a report by the BBC that sensitive documents from the Defence Ministry were found by a member of the public at a bus stop did little to dispel a feeling of chaos at the heart of government.
The ministry said it was investigating the incident. - REUTERS