They say a picture paints a thousand words, but a newly-released video has left us mute.
Not content with seeing screen grabs of Matt Hancock locked in a passionate embrace with close aide Gina Coladangelo, Brits are now having to digest moving footage of the dangerous liaison.
A CCTV recording was released on Friday night showing the Health Secretary checking the coast is clear before pulling Coladangelo into his arms for a steamy kiss.
The clip has sent shockwaves and a flurry of memes tumbling across social media, as pressure mounts on the cabinet minister to resign over the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Boris Johnson has so far resisted calls to ditch Hancock – who said he was “very sorry” for letting people down after The Sun first reported he was having an extramarital affair – but the hashtag “SackMatt” continued to trend on Twitter on Saturday morning.
Here’s how users of the platform responded to the latest visual twist in the saga:
i am sorry but hancock must be the least sexy person in the entire world, it’s making me want to die pic.twitter.com/EXiklmI1gP
— Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) June 25, 2021
What on earth have I just watched and more importantly, how do I un-see it? #MattHancock pic.twitter.com/2LIxefnvOg pic.twitter.com/uesUAtqn33
— Michelle Dewberry (@MichelleDewbs) June 25, 2021
Conservative party advisor, Rafe Hubris (BA, OXON) seeing the Matt Hancock kiss video for the first time. pic.twitter.com/IzacxXxzFV
— Josh Berry (@JoshBerryComedy) June 25, 2021
First thing I see this morning is the Hancock video. pic.twitter.com/7aNAjkPhXJ
— Stephen Graham (@StephenCVGraham) June 26, 2021
Just woken up, remembered Favre isn’t coming, checked the TL and seen a video of Matt Hancock going full Year 8 disco in his office.
— HLTCO (@HLTCO) June 26, 2021
Stop the world, I want to get off.
I can't watch more than 30 seconds of the Matt Hancock video because it makes me want to scratch the inside of my own actual head.
— Joanna Cannon (@JoannaCannon) June 26, 2021
Waking up.....24hrs on.....Hancock......that video.....it wasn't a dream. pic.twitter.com/DfFZnznELu
— All about Steve (@1StevieKilner) June 26, 2021
So having watched the Hancock video the overwhelming vibe is one of clumsy fumbling at a school disco.
— Simon Smith (@smithsmm) June 26, 2021
As much passion as a sock.
In quantum physics many worlds theory there is a version of all of us that hasn’t seen the Matt Hancock video. Damn it. #myeyes
— Peter Daire (@peterdaire) June 26, 2021
my entire flat literally gathered around watching the matt hancock video on repeat gasping in horror every time
— percy | wen lovezone hours (@partiallysstars) June 26, 2021
Despite Hancock’s declaration that he will remain in post, many consider his actions a new “Barnard Castle” moment, with Labour insisting his position is now “hopelessly untenable”.
Lawyers have acknowledged that the Health Secretary may have broken the law regarding coronavirus restrictions, although he admitted only to breaching guidance.
Downing Street may say it considers the matter “closed” but, according to the Daily Telegraph, Tory MPs are telling the Prime Minister to “pull the plug” on Hancock.
A snap poll from Savanta ComRes, released hours after photographs of the pair kissing in the minister’s ministerial office surfaced, found 58 per cent of UK adults thought that Hancock should resign, compared to 25 per cent who thought he should not.
But, almost half say that Boris Johnson would be a hypocrite if he were to ask Matt Hancock to resign given accusations of his own infidelity.
— Savanta ComRes (@SavantaComRes) June 25, 2021
Would be a hypocrite 47%
Would not be a hypocrite 35% pic.twitter.com/l1NkF0oiPr
And the Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice group, which represents those who have lost loved ones to the pandemic, also called for him to go.
In a letter to the PM, the group said it had broken its “position of neutrality on ministerial conduct” to urge Johnson to relieve Hancock of his job.
We've written to @BorisJohnson to tell him our position of neutrality on ministerial conduct is no longer tenable, and neither is @MattHancock position as Health Secretary.
— Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (@CovidJusticeUK) June 25, 2021
The Health Secretary should resign.
If he doesn't the Prime Minister should remove him from office. pic.twitter.com/2uvO7M3QFJ
The Health Secretary is also deeply unpopular with some Conservatives who believe that he has been an obstacle to the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
In a statement released on Friday morning, Hancock said: “I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances, I have let people down and am very sorry.
“I remain focused on working to get the country out of this pandemic, and would be grateful for privacy for my family on this personal matter.”
A Downing Street spokesman said Johnson had accepted his apology and “considers the matter closed”.
However, there have also been questions about Coladangelo’s appointment to her role in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The mother-of-three, who is married to the founder of the retailer Oliver Bonas, Oliver Tress, is a friend of Hancock’s from their days together at Oxford University and was appointed to the DHSC last year.
She was initially taken on as an unpaid adviser on a six-month contract in March 2020, before being appointed as a non-executive director at the department.
The Metropolitan Police (MPS) said it was not investigating any offences, which allegedly took place last month, because “as a matter of course the MPS is not investigating Covid related issues retrospectively”.
But Hancock’s troubles don’t end there – he’s also accused of breaking the ministerial code. In a letter to the PM, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, should probe the Health Secretary’s behaviour.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said if Hancock, who has been married to the mother of his three children, Martha, for 15 years, had been secretly having a relationship with an adviser he appointed to a taxpayer-funded role, it was “a blatant abuse of power and a clear conflict of interest”.
A No 10 spokesman insisted the “correct procedure” had been followed in relation Coladangelo’s appointment but refused to go into detail.
Professor Stephen Reicher, a government behavioural science adviser on the Spi-B committee, said the Prime Minister sticking by aides and ministers who may have breached the rules made the repercussions for restriction compliance “toxic”.
