Matt Hancock has resigned as Health Secretary the day after video footage emerged of him kissing an aide in his ministerial office in a breach of coronavirus restrictions.
Images and video showed Mr Hancock in an embrace with aide Gina Coladangelo last month, and the Health Secretary was facing increasing pressure to quit over the breaking of social-distancing rules.
Mr Hancock wrote to Boris Johnson today and said: "The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading up out of this crisis."
Read more: Good riddance Matt Hancock, now time for the rest to go
He said: "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."
In response, the Prime Minister wrote: "You should leave office very proud of what you have achieved - not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us."
Mr Johnson had refused to sack Mr Hancock, with his spokesman saying the PM considered the matter closed after receiving the West Suffolk MP's apology on Friday.
The embattled Health Secretary was already under severe pressure after damning evidence from former Number 10 spin doctor Dominic Cummings revealed that Boris Johnson had branded Mr Hancock "totally f***ing useless" during the early stages of Covid last year.
The Health Secretary was also accused of lying about PPE provisions, failing care homes and overseeing the extraordinarily costly and failing Test and Trace system. He has denied the claims.
Only this week, the Queen referred to him as "poor man" in a clip released from her first in-person audience with the Prime Minister in 15 months.
