Matt Hancock
(Picture: PA Wire)Matt Hancock is already plotting a political comeback despite being urged to quit the Commons by some former Cabinet colleagues, it has been reported.
The former Health Secretary was caught kissing an aide, Gina Coladangelo, in his ministerial office in a breach of coronavirus restrictions.
He has since appealed to current and former ministers for advice on how to revive his career following his resignation, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Some ex-colleagues have warned that the damage caused is so great that he will have to leave the Commons.
The paper reports that ex-colleagues have also suggested that he would struggle to supplement his backbench MP’s salary (nearly £82,000) with outside jobs, which they say he would now need to.
One former minister said that Mr Hancock would need more money to “fund his new life”.
But, he added, “given the notoriety which he has now achieved, it will be impossible for him to find new jobs without declaring them in the MPs’ Register [of Interests].
“That will drag the companies reluctantly into the limelight.”
Despite concerns, some ex-Cabinet colleagues argued that the 42-year-old is young enough to make a ministerial comeback.
One minister said that Mr Hancock would not be giving up his West Suffolk seat and has no intention of quitting as an MP.
The friend told the publication: “Matt will not be quitting, and will prove himself to be a great backbench MP.”
However, one former Cabinet minister said that, even if Mr Hancock stayed on as an MP, he was unlikely to serve as a minister again.
They said: “I do not think he will ever come back.
“There are too many other MPs, young Tory MPs, who will be coming up for ministerial jobs.”
Mr Hancock’s three-year tenure as health secretary came to an end after The Sun newspaper published stills of what appeared to be CCTV footage from inside his ministerial office of him kissing Ms Coladangelo.
Ms Coladangelo, a friend from Mr Hancock’s days at Oxford University, was brought into the Department of Health as an unpaid adviser last year before being given the £15,000-a-year role of non-executive director in the department.
When the CCTV recorded the apparent cinch, legislation dictated that “no person may participate in a gathering” that “consists of two or more people… and takes place indoors”.
An exception to this rule was that the gathering was “reasonably necessary for work purposes or for the provision of voluntary or charitable services”.
