So, Matt Hancock has resigned as Britain’s health secretary. A line has now been drawn under a scandal that gave the British press the ‘public interest’ licence to splash photos of a cabinet minister locking lips with his aide. Nothing more to see here.
This, at least, is what the government wants us to think. On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday morning, justice secretary minister Robert Buckland insisted any queries about Hancock were either prurient or irrelevant since “Matt has resigned”. Move along, folks.
But the Hancock affair is about much more than a senior minister breaking his own COVID rules with his adviser, Gina Coladangelo. The whole episode highlights – once again – the gaping hole in the middle of Boris Johnson’s government where transparency, probity and honesty should be.
