Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
John Stevens & Ashley Cowburn

Matt Hancock moans his rule breaking affair led to 'bucket of s***' from public

Self-pitying Matt Hancock has complained he’s had “an absolute bucket of s*** poured over my head” because of his Covid rule-breaking affair.

The disgraced former health secretary pleaded for “forgiveness” from the public as he insisted he is “only human”.

Mr Hancock was forced to resign as health secretary after he was caught breaking his own rules while kissing aide Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office last year.

In a newspaper interview yesterday, he whined that public anger over the incident had made his life miserable.

“As a consequence of our decision to live life, we have… had a shockingly awful 18 months,” he told the Daily Mail. “It’s been absolutely horrific.

“I’ve had an absolute bucket of s** poured over my head. The even bigger bucket of s** has been poured over Gina’s.”

Matt Hancock returns to Parliament today (PA)

It comes as Mr Hancock uses a new book to point the finger at care workers for spreading coronavirus to the elderly.

The ex-minister has been criticised for the decision to discharge hospital patients into care homes without tests - which has been blamed for deaths.

Matt Hancock's first appearance in the Commons in five weeks on Friday (BBC Parliament)

But in his memoir he seeks to shift the blame, claiming: “The vast majority of infections were brought in from the wider community, mainly by staff.”

Mr Hancock also reveals Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty warned that coronavirus could kill as many as 820,000 people in the UK two months before the country was put into lockdown.

Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo caught kissing on CCTV camera at work (The Sun)

The ex-minister says when he shared this information with his Tory Cabinet colleagues soon afterwards, the reaction was “somewhat shrug shrug”.

Mr Hancock used his newspaper interview yesterday to reveal how he fell in love with Miss Coladangelo, who was an old university pal, after she started working for him during the pandemic.

“We both realised we had feelings for each other which were as strong as they were. It was very sudden and took us both by surprise,” he said.

In a nauseating exchange, he told how in her role as an adviser on his speeches Miss Coladangelo “help[ed] me reach emotional depths I couldn’t reach on my own”.

“We talked to each other and communicated at a very profound level,” he added.

England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (Getty Images)

Mr Hancock left his wife and family to set up home with Miss Coladangelo on the night his affair became public last year. But he insisted it "is not true" he woke up his son to tell him he was leaving. "He was awake," he said.

In an appeal for the public to change its mind on him, he said: “I want forgiveness for the mistake I made, the failure of leadership at the end of the pandemic when I fell in love with Gina and I broke the guidance that I'd signed off.

“I want forgiveness for the human error I made... but I'm not asking for forgiveness for how I handled the pandemic.”

Mr Hancock yesterday told MPs he was "honoured" to be in the Commons as he made his first appearance since bunking off for almost five weeks in a bid to become a star on I’m A Celebrity.

Matt Hancock on ITV's I'm a Celebrity (James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

The fame-hunting reality TV junkie finally got back to work as he attempted to pass a law for primary school pupils to be screened for dyslexia.

But his bid ultimately failed after the legislation ran out of time in the Commons chamber and it is unlikely to be debated again until later in December.

This ex-health secretary has defied calls to resign for abandoning his West Suffolk constituents to take part in bushtucker trials involving eating a camel penis and a cow anus.

Mr Hancock, who receives an MPs' salary of over £84,000, is expected to rake in around £400,000 for taking part in the ITV hit programme he came third in last week.

"I am constantly feeling that others, who aren’t focused on this every day, are weeks behind what’s going on."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.