Summary
Here’s a roundup this evening of today’s news as Matt Hancock has been caught breaching social distancing rules with an aide.
- The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is facing calls to resign, after photos emerged of him breaching social distancing by kissing Gina Coladangelo, an adviser to his department.
- In a statement Hancock said he was “very sorry” for breaching social distancing rules and asked for privacy for his family.
- Downing Street said prime minister Boris Johnson had accepted Hancock’s apology and “considers the matter closed”.
- The Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, said his position was “hopelessly untenable” and called for him to resign or be sacked.
- The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called for an investigation and said it could erode support for lockdown rules.
- A longtime friend of Hancock would have gone through a “very rigorous” process before being given a job at the health department, Grant Shapps has said, after questions have been raised over Coladangelo’s appointment.
- The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has said he has “every confidence” in the health secretary.
- Labour has called Boris Johnson “spineless” for failing to sack the health secretary and accused the government of an attempted cover-up.
- Families bereaved by Covid have called on Hancock to resign or be fired.
- Scientists have warned the incident could stop people following Covid rules.
Updated
Labour’s shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth has echoed Annalise Dodds’ earlier statement, that Matt Hancock’s job is “hopelessly untenable”.
Charge sheet against Hancock grows by hour:
— Jonathan Ashworth 😷💙 (@JonAshworth) June 25, 2021
▪️Negligent failure to protect care homes.
▪️Failing Test & Trace reliant on ‘imaginary clouseus’
▪️Handing close friend govt job & breaking rules.
His position hopelessly untenable. Johnson too weak to sack him.https://t.co/SgeSYc5gky
My colleague Sarah Marsh has put together a good guide to Matt Hancock’s messages to the public since the beginning of the pandemic, telling them to follow social distancing guidelines.
Updated
Behavioural scientists advising the government have warned that the breaking of social distancing rules by Matt Hancock could make others less likely to adhere to Covid restrictions.
The health secretary has admitted he breached social distancing guidelines after he was pictured in the Sun in a “clinch” with Gina Coladangelo, a university friend who he had appointed non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The photographs allegedly date from 6 May, and indoor contact with someone you do not live with was not allowed until 17 May.
Last year Hancock said he would back the police in any action they wished to take over Prof Neil Ferguson breaking social distancing rules by having his lover visit him at his home, adding that Ferguson was correct to step down from his position on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage). Hancock told Sky News that the social distancing rules “are there for everyone” and are “deadly serious”.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said Matt Hancock’s actions have made it more difficult for the public to have confidence in those in authority.
He said the pictures of the health secretary kissing his adviser raised “serious concerns” and must be investigated rather than being “brushed under the carpet,” according to PA Media. Khan added it could create a similar “sense of unhappiness” to when Dominic Cummings broke lockdown rules last year.
He said:
It’s been said back to me today that actually, you’re making all this effort to get more people receiving the jab – it makes it far more difficult for people to have confidence in people in positions of power and influence when these sorts of allegations are being made.
“I remember last summer many, many people in London expressing their concerns about the double standards with Cummings.
“And my concern is that we could see over the next few days and weeks people reporting back to me and others that same sort of sense of unhappiness and lack of confidence because of the actions allegedly undertaken by Matt Hancock.”
This is Harry Taylor, taking over from Nicola for the rest of the evening. You can reach me by Twitter where I’m @HarryTaylr or by email.
Updated
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day:
-
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is facing calls to resign after being accused of having an affair with Gina Coladangelo, an adviser to his department.
- In a statement to the Sun, Hancock said he was “very sorry” for breaching social distancing rules and asked for privacy for his family.
- Downing Street said the prime minister had accepted Matt Hancock’s apology for breaching social distancing guidelines and “considers the matter closed”.
-
The Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, called for the health secretary to resign or be sacked, saying his position was “hopelessly untenable”.
- The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said there are “legitimate public interest questions to be answered” regarding the images appearing to show the health secretary,in an embrace with his aide.
- A longtime friend of Matt Hancock would have gone through a “very rigorous” process before being given a job at the health department, Grant Shapps has said.
- The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has said he has “every confidence” in the health secretary.
- Labour has called Boris Johnson “spineless” for failing to sack the health secretary and accused the government of an attempted cover-up.
-
Families bereaved by Covid have called on Matt Hancock to resign or be fired after the health secretary said on Friday he intends to hold on to his job despite pictures emerging of him kissing an aide in his office at the Department of Health and Social Care.
- A total of 111,157 confirmed and probable cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant have now been identified in the UK, Public Health England said. This is up by 35,204, or 46%, on the previous week.
-
Almost 600m lateral flow tests given to the public in England may not yet have been used, according to a report that says the hugely expensive test-and-trace system is still bedevilled by problems. The NAO said results from only 14% of them had been registered, meaning almost 600m were unaccounted for.
- The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has warned anyone looking to travel abroad that the rules could change at short notice after Malta, Madeira and the Balearic, among others, were added to the UK’s green list.
- The UK population grew by an estimated 0.4% in the 12 months to June 2020, the lowest annual increase for nearly two decades, reflecting the impact of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
I’m handing this liveblog over to a colleague shortly. Thanks so much for joining me today and for all the comments below the line.
Updated
Why should we care if the health secretary is caught kissing his adviser?
Matt Hancock has admitted he breached social distancing guidelines after he was pictured in the Sun kissing Gina Coladangelo, who he appointed last year to be a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
By embracing someone from outside his social bubble on 6 May, he was in breach of the government’s social distancing rules. Guidance in place since March 2020 had ordered people to “stay at least two metres away from people you do not live with or who are not in your support bubble”.
People should also “avoid direct contact and face-to-face contact with people you do not live with” and “stay at least two metres away from anyone who visits your home for work reasons”, it was said. The rules were relaxed on 17 May to allow friends and family to hug.
Adam Wagner, a barrister and expert on lockdown rules, said indoor relationships with someone you did not live with were not allowed until 17 May. “Gatherings of two or more indoors were illegal except for permitted purposes. One purpose was ‘work’, which would cover being together at work but arguably not for this purpose,” he said.
Hancock is under pressure because last year he said that Prof Neil Ferguson, a leading epidemiologist, “took the right decision to resign” when he travelled to see his lover in breach of social distancing rules.
Read more here:
Families bereaved by Covid have called on Matt Hancock to resign or be fired after the health secretary said on Friday he intends to hold on to his job despite pictures emerging of him kissing an aide in his office at the Department of Health and Social Care.
They described as “heartbreaking” the revelation that he was ignoring social distancing rules at a time when they were unable to hug friends and family at their loved one’s funerals.
“Hancock has treated bereaved families with contempt,” said Hannah Brady, a spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice which represents over 4,000 bereaved families. “He’s got to go and he should have gone a long time ago”.
Brady lost her father, Shaun Brady, 55, to Covid in May 2020.
Their intervention came after Hancock apologised for breaking social distancing rules after the Sun published CCTV pictures of him embracing Gina Coladangelo, who he appointed last year to be a non-executive director at the DHSC. The paper said the pictures were taken on 6 May. Intimate contact with people outside your own household was only permitted from 17 May and both Hancock and Coladangelo are married to other people.
“Up and down the country, bereaved families have been doing everything they can to follow the rules and prevent further loss of life,” the group said in a statement. “But it’s clear Matt Hancock thought that ‘hands, face, space’ was a rule for everyone else. For bereaved families to know that the man responsible for public health in this country, was ignoring the rules whilst we were unable to hug friends and family at our loved ones’ funerals, is heartbreaking.”
They said that for the prime minister Boris Johnson to now keep him in his position was “a slap in the face to bereaved families” and referred to WhatsApp messages sent by the PM to his former aide Dominic Cummings early in the pandemic which strongly criticised Hancock.
“He himself described Hancock as ‘fucking hopeless’ over a year ago, even before he went on to disastrously handle PPE, care homes, Test and Trace and ultimately oversee the deaths of 150,000 people,” the group said.
Updated
Downing Street is facing demands from Labour to launch an inquiry into whether Matt Hancock’s intimate relationship with his adviser Gina Coladangelo breached the ministerial code.
Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, has written to Boris Johnson asking for an investigation after No 10 declared the matter “closed”.
In a letter copied to Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, and Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, Rayner claims Hancock should be sacked if found to have broken the rules.
The health secretary appointed Coladangelo as a government adviser and departmental director before being caught on CCTV kissing her in his office.
She wrote:
News reports today suggest that [Hancock] has now failed to declare that he was engaged in a relationship with someone who he personally appointed at taxpayers’ expense to serve as an adviser, and subsequently a non-executive director, at the Department of Health and Social Care.
Such a failure would appear to be a further breach of the ministerial code, which in these circumstances should surely result in his removal from office.
If you are not prepared to act on your own initiative as prime minister, I would urge you to instruct your independent adviser to immediately investigate the health secretary’s conduct and his apparent breach of the ministerial code.
The ministerial code states that politicians heading government departments are responsible for avoiding a potential conflict of interest.
According to points 7.1 and 7.2 in the code, “ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise”.
It adds:
It is the personal responsibility of each minister to decide whether and what action is needed to avoid a conflict or the perception of a conflict, taking account of advice received from their permanent secretary and the independent adviser on ministers’ interests.
Updated
In a statement commenting on Matt Hancock’s alleged affair, the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said Hancock had “treated bereaved families with contempt” and that “he should have gone a long time ago”.
Full statement here:
Up and down the country, bereaved families have been doing everything they can to follow the rules and prevent further loss of life. But it’s clear Matt Hancock thought that ‘hands, face, space’ was a rule for everyone else. For bereaved families to know that the man responsible for public health in this country, was ignoring the rules whilst we were unable to hug friends and family at our loved ones funerals, is heartbreaking.
For Boris Johnson to keep him in his position is a slap in the face to bereaved families. He himself described Hancock as “fucking hopeless’ over a year ago, even before he went on to disastrously handle PPE, care homes, Test and Trace and ultimately oversee the deaths of 150,000 people. Hancock has treated bereaved families with contempt. He’s got to go and he should have gone a long time ago.
Updated
The deputy leader of the Labour party has said the prime minister’s ethics adviser should investigate whether the health secretary broke the ministerial code, following revelations regarding Hancock’s alleged affair with an aide.
PA reports:
In a letter to Boris Johnson, Angela Rayner said Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, should probe Mr Hancock’s behaviour.
Detailing Hancock’s past breach of the code after failing to declare an interest in his sister’s company after it was awarded NHS contractor status, the senior Labour MP said: “News reports today suggest that he has now failed to declare that he was engaged in a relationship with someone who he personally appointed at taxpayers’ expense to serve as an adviser, and subsequently a non-executive director, at the Department of Health and Social Care.
“Such a failure would appear to be a further breach of the ministerial code, which in these circumstances should surely result in his removal from office.
“If you are not prepared to act on your own initiative as prime minister, I would urge you to instruct your independent adviser to immediately investigate the health secretary’s conduct and his apparent breach of the ministerial code.
“Any documents, correspondence and the findings of this investigation should be published in full.”
Updated
YouGov polling has revealed that 49% of the public think Matt Hancock should resign. This is up from 36% who said he should resign in May.
73% of Labour voters think he should go, in comparison to just 33% of Tory voters.
By 49% to 25% the public say Matt Hancock should resign, amid the allegations of an affair with a close aide.
— YouGov (@YouGov) June 25, 2021
This is up from 36% who said he should resign back in May https://t.co/ZqP6pMBJGJ pic.twitter.com/mXESDKFZo2
Do you think Matt Hancock should resign or remain in his role?
— YouGov (@YouGov) June 25, 2021
ALL BRITS
Resign 49% / Remain 25%
CON VOTERS
Resign 33% / Remain 44%
LAB VOTERS
Resign 73% / Remain 9%https://t.co/ZqP6pMBJGJ pic.twitter.com/JtN2mopusv
Steven Swinford from the Times has idenfied four areas where Hancock has potentially breached rules.
How has Hancock potentially breached rules?
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) June 25, 2021
1. Social distancing guidance - admitted
2. Law banning indoor mixing - exemption only applies to work
3. Min code states working relationships should be 'proper & appropriate'
4. Conflict of interest over Coladangelo's appointment
Dominic Cummings has published a new blog post, which he says provides further evidence on “on how Hancock/PM negligence killed people, the testing/care home disaster”
99/ New - further evidence on how Hancock/PM negligence killed people, the testing/care home disaster https://t.co/FqzywWVFl2 pic.twitter.com/Ad0sudlvOF
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) June 25, 2021
An extract from the blog post:
Our political institutions systematically exclude such people, systematically promote Hancocks, and systematically block learning from high performance, which is seen as a dangerous menace by normal bureaucracies.
Thus we get Hancocked.
Britain gets ‘Hancocked’ every week. Few MPs have any serious understanding of management and neither do almost all political journalists so the crucial issues are never discussed, punditry is all about surface phenomena rather than things like deep incentives and operational performance.
You can read the full post here.
The government’s Events Research Programme report, which had been delayed, has said “no substantial outbreaks” of Covid-19 were identified following the mass test events. Twenty-eight cases among 58,000 people who attended were recorded.
PA reports:
Of those cases, 11 were identified as “potentially infectious” at an event while the other 17 were “potentially infected at or around the time of an event”.
All attendees were asked to provide a negative lateral flow test upon entry and to take a voluntary pre- and post-event PCR test.
The events in phase one were: an evening at Circus nightclub in Liverpool, the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, three football matches at Wembley, the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena, a pilot festival at Sefton Park, Liverpool, and a Reunion 5km run at Kempton Park, Surrey.
A range of measures to combat transmission of coronavirus were used at the events including staggered entry and exit times, ventilation, social distancing and face masks.
The report said: “The report acknowledges that these numbers reflect the rigorous testing regime in place for attendance at each event and relatively low levels of community prevalence of Covid-19 at the time of running the first phase of pilots.”
Updated
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said he has “every confidence” in the health secretary.
Speaking after a vaccine summit in London, Zahawi told reporters: “I have every confidence in Matt Hancock.”
Asked if he was disappointed in Hancock’s behaviour, he said:
I’ve said everything I’m going to say on it. He’s apologised. He’s focusing on making sure that we get this (vaccine) sprint, this big sprint up to the 19th of July.
Asked if it makes it harder for the public to follow the rules:
The secretary of state has apologised and has said everything he needs to say and the prime minister has full confidence in his secretary of state and considers the matter closed.
Updated
Matt Hancock was chief of staff to George Osborne when the Conservatives were in opposition, before entering parliament in 2010 as the MP for West Suffolk, and is a rare cabinet hangover from the Cameron set.
Unlike Cameron and Osborne, Hancock, still just 42, has remained in Westminster as the Brexit referendum has sent shock waves through British politics over the past five years.
He had a short-lived stint as culture secretary from January 2018, revelling in the opportunity it gave him to highlight his knowledge of the tech scene – and memorably videoing himself trying out the sport of parkour.
Hancock was made health secretary in July 2018 by Theresa May, when Boris Johnson resigned as foreign secretary over her Brexit deal, and Jeremy Hunt was given that role. Johnson then kept him on in his first reshuffle.
As health secretary, Hancock has come under intense pressure over his handling of the Covid response, in particular the procurement of PPE for health workers, and the discharging of hospital patients into care homes during the early days of the pandemic.
He was attacked relentlessly by Johnson’s embittered former aide Dominic Cummings at a recent committee hearing. Cummings claimed he had repeatedly lied about what the Department of Health could achieve during the crisis, to the extent that even the politically neutral cabinet secretary had questioned his position.
But Hancock defended himself against the claims, insisting he had done everything he could to protect the public. The health select committee chair, Hunt, subsequently suggested none of the evidence Cummings had produced showed definitively that Hancock had lied.
Hancock, who once created his own eponymous app, is regarded by colleagues as having flexible political views and Teflon-coated self-regard.
Read more here:
You can listen to Gina Coladangelo talking about Matt Hancock on a BBC Radio 4 Profile programme from last year.
Introduced as a “close friend of more than 20 years”, she is quoted as saying:
We met at the student radio station Oxygen FM. I read the news, and Matt read the sport. I’ve always joked with him that he did the sport because he wasn’t good enough to do the news. But I think it gave him a bit of an early heads up into aggressive questioning from journalists and hacks.
He got one of these special tickets to go and sit in the press box with all the other serious journalists, I should say at Twickenham to watch a big match I think it was Australia, England, and actually overslept and hot-footed it to the train but didn’t make it back to Twickenham in time from Oxford so had to get off the train at Reading, find a pub, watch the first half in the pub and then go to a phone box outside and report in, so he told a white lie, pretended he was at Twickenham watching the rugby when in fact he was in a pub in Reading – successfully nobody ever found out.
Earlier in the programme, Coladangelo says:
His parents separated when he was very young, but they both happily remarried and I think his mother in particular was a very strong influence on him. She really was the brains behind their family business which they started in their kitchen at home. [It involved] the first bit of software that if you put it into an internet browser would help you to find a postcode, you put a postcode in it would give you your address. It was obviously a breakthrough technology back then. I think he learnt a lot from growing up with that business as a boy.
Updated
Labour has called Boris Johnson “spineless” for failing to sack the health secretary and accused the government of an attempted cover-up.
After No 10 told reporters the prime minister considered the Matt Hancock affair “closed”, a Labour spokeswoman said:
This matter is definitely not closed, despite the government’s attempts to cover it up.
Matt Hancock appears to have been caught breaking the laws he created while having a secret relationship with an aide he appointed to a taxpayer-funded job.
The prime minister recently described him as ‘useless’ – the fact that even now he still can’t sack him shows how spineless he is.
Updated
A No 10 spokesman said the “vast majority” of the public have followed coronavirus guidelines, when asked if Matt Hancock thought it was important for people to abide by the rules.
The spokesman said:
The prime minister has spoken previously about the fact that the vast majority of the public have followed the rules throughout the pandemic and we are incredibly thankful to them for doing so.
I would point you back to the health secretary’s own statement where he says ‘I have let people down and I’m very sorry’ and I would say again that the prime minister has accepted that apology.
Updated
The Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen said he was disappointed in Hancock’s behaviour and stopped short of offering his support to the health secretary.
Asked by Radio 4’s World at One programme whether he was disappointed by what he read, Bridgen said: “Yes, I am. But few things that go on in the House of Parliament shock me.”
And asked if he backed Hancock to remain in post, Bridgen said:
He’s had a very difficult role and unenviable task over the last 18 months; I think he’s done a pretty good job myself.
But ultimately, if he feels that the situation he’s found himself in has affected his performance of the role, that’s a decision for him to make and also for the prime minister to make.
I’m sure the public will come to their own conclusions.
He added:
I think it’d be very hard to argue that Mr Hancock wasn’t in a bubble with his senior work colleague.
I think the disclosure of the photographs from inside a secretary of state’s office does raise some major concerns about security.
Updated
The appointment of Gina Coladangelo to the Department of Health and Social Care followed the “correct procedures”, according to Downing Street.
A spokesman told reporters:
The appointment followed all the correct procedures.
Downing Street repeatedly refused to comment on whether the health secretary, Matt Hancock, had broken the law after he was pictured kissing a close aide in his Whitehall department.
A Downing Street spokesman told a Westminster briefing:
I would point you to his statement. He says ‘I accept I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances’.
He sets out that he apologises for that and as I say, the prime minister has accepted that apology.
Updated
Boris Johnson has accepted Matt Hancock's apology
Downing Street said the prime minister had accepted Matt Hancock’s apology for breaching social distancing guidelines and “considers the matter closed”.
After being asked by reporters why Hancock remained in post, a spokesman for the prime minister said:
You’ve seen the health secretary’s statement, so I would point you to that.
I don’t really have anything further to add.
The health secretary set out that he accepted he had breached the social distancing guidelines and he has apologised for that.
The prime minister has accepted the health secretary’s apology and considers the matter closed.
Asked whether Boris Johnson had “full confidence” in Hancock, the spokesman replied: “Yes.”
Updated
Here are some tweets by some political journalists who are at today’s lobby briefing.
Sam Coates from Sky News says it looks like the prime minister will not be sacking Matt Hancock.
Boris Johnson stands by Matt Hancock - Downing Street
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) June 25, 2021
Meanwhile my colleague Aubrey Allegretti shared these quotes from Boris Johnson’s spokesman, pointing reporters towards the health secretary’s statement.
Two quite incredible non-denials from Boris Johnson’s spokesman today: pic.twitter.com/6olcWiopuC
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) June 25, 2021
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said there are “legitimate public interest questions to be answered” regarding the images appearing to show the health secretary, Matt Hancock, in an embrace with his aide Gina Coladangelo.
When asked about the matter during a press conference, Drakeford said:
I think there is a legitimate distinction to be drawn between what people do in their private lives and what they do in their public lives.
I’m not trying to make points about what people do as entirely private matters, but in the case of Mr Hancock it does seem to me that there are some issues that are of genuine public interest.
I do think there are questions that need to be answered about whether those rules were broken, the social distancing rules.
Mr Hancock himself was very quick to condemn a senior academic from Imperial College when he was found breaching those rules, so I think there are questions, legitimate public interest questions, to answer there.
I think there are legitimate public interest questions to be answered about how individuals are appointed if they turn out to be in a different sort of relationship with the minister who was responsible for their appointment.
Certainly here in Wales, I always expect the whole of our ministerial team to observe the rules that we expect other people to observe.
You can’t make laws for other people and then not be willing to abide by them yourself.
Updated
England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, has declined to comment on Matt Hancock’s actions.
Asked outside the Department of Health in central London on Friday afternoon if he had anything to say about the health secretary’s apology, Whitty replied: “Nothing.”
Updated
For those just joining, the health secretary has apologised for breaching social distancing rules but said he would stay on as health secretary after photographs emerged of him kissing a longtime friend who has a job at his department.
Here’s some pundit reaction on Matt Hancock’s statement making clear he doesn’t intend to resign.
The former MP Nick Boles has pondered whether his colleagues will rush to his defence on air and how hard journalists will put the boot in.
In every political career comes a moment when the politician discovers how well he treated people on the way up (it’s usually a he.) How many colleagues rush to his defence on air? How hard do journalists put the boot in? How many people urge a sense of proportion on Twitter?
— Nick Boles (@NickBoles) June 25, 2021
Meanwhile Jonathan Walker, the political editor of the Birmingham Post and Mail & Newcastle Chronicle and Journal, believes Hancock will survive the scandal.
As things stand it's possible Hancock will survive this. But what if there is a future lockdown (which govt hopes to avoid, but there's no guarantee). Ministers telling us no hugging, stay 2 metres apart etc. Who could take him seriously?
— Jonathan Walker (@jonwalker121) June 25, 2021
Earlier, HuffPost’s Paul Waugh shared a thread by the lawyer Adam Wagner about breaking Covid rules and whether it was actually against the law for Hancock and his aide to be kissing.
this is where this story will go next...and what may prompt a resignation. https://t.co/wT60Ir7eV5
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) June 25, 2021
The BBC’s Lewis Goodall has shared some comments previously made my Matt Hancock regarding Covid restrictions.
Government guidance advising against close physical contact with people not in your household was not lifted until May 17th. Pictures of Matt Hancock are from earlier that month. On May 16th, before the restrictions were lifted, Mr Hancock said this. pic.twitter.com/mVl3ZlzJJq
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) June 25, 2021
Updated
The Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, has responded to Matt Hancock’s statement and once again called for him to resign or be sacked.
“He set the rules. He admits he broke them. He has to go,” she said in a tweet.
He set the rules. He admits he broke them. He has to go.
— Anneliese Dodds 💙 (@AnnelieseDodds) June 25, 2021
If he won’t resign, the PM should sack him. https://t.co/OaelBn0shV
Updated
My colleague Peter Walker has this context on Gina Coladangelo and her controversial appointment to position of aide last year:
In November last year, Labour complained about apparent cronyism after it emerged that Gina Coladangelo, the head of marketing at the Oliver Bonas retail chain and a university friend of Matt Hancock, was first made an unpaid adviser at the DHCS and then a non-executive director, a part-time role paid £15,000 a year.
Parliamentary records also show that in 2019, Hancock sponsored Coladangelo for a parliamentary pass, which she received under her married name, Gina Tress. Her husband, Oliver Tress, is the founder and head of Oliver Bonas. She was formerly an executive for the PR and lobbying firm Luther Pendragon.
Shapps said such roles involved significant civil service oversight and declined to comment on the nature of the relationship between Hancock and Coladangelo.
“The only thing I know is that if you are appointed to a government position there are very rigorous programmes in place when people are appointed, which require all sorts of civil service signoff before public money is spent,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “That’s the situation I’m sure will be followed in a position like this.”
Pressed on whether the new photos indicated cronyism, Shapps said: “From a civil service point of view, you have to go through a very strenuous approach to appoint anybody to anything at all. From a private point of view, people are entitled to their own judgments but people’s private lives are people’s private lives, and I don’t think it’s the place of politicians to go commenting on them.”
Asked in a separate interview with LBC whether any lockdown rules had been broken, Shapps said he was “quite sure that whatever the rules were at the time were followed”.
Read the full story here:
Updated
My colleague Sonia Sodha over at the Observer has said Matt Hancock now faces “serious questions” about the relationship with his aide Gina Coladangelo.
These include details on when the affair began, given the health secretary appointed her to become a non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care, and whether it was declared as a conflict of interest at the time.
Serious questions now for Hancock about *when* the relationship began - was it before or after Gina Coladangelo was appointed to become a non-executive director of the Department for Health? And if and when it was declared as a conflict, and if not, why not.
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) June 25, 2021
Updated
In a statement to the Sun, Matt Hancock said he was “very sorry” for breaching social distancing rules and asked for privacy for his family.
It comes after images were published appearing to show him passionately kissing his aide, Gina Coladangelo, on 6 May.
At the time government guidance said two people from different households should remain socially distanced and not hug.
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.
Updated
The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 is estimated to have increased in north-west and north-east England. There are also early signs of an increase in eastern England and south-west England, while the trend is uncertain for other regions, the ONS said.
In many regions positivity rates are low, meaning trends are difficult to identify since they are affected by small changes in the number of people testing positive from week to week, PA reports.
North-west England had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to June 19: around one in 150.
South-east England had the lowest estimate: around one in 1,130.
Updated
Hancock apologises for breach of social distancing guidance
Matt Hancock has issued a statement in response to the Sun’s story this morning:
Hancock not quitting. pic.twitter.com/6QxX9NGZxe
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 25, 2021
Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds has joined calls for Matt Hancock to lose his job, saying his position was “hopelessly untenable”.
She also said the alleged relationship with his aide Gina Coladangelo is “a blatant abuse of power and a clear conflict of interest”.
Labour Party chair @AnnelieseDodds on Matt Hancock: “His position is hopelessly untenable. Boris Johnson should sack him.”
— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) June 25, 2021
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The easing of restrictions on UK travellers heading to the Balearics has prompted elation among officials and businesses in the islands, even as an outbreak of 394 coronavirus cases among Spanish students who had recently travelled to Mallorca highlighted the risks of opening up.
On Thursday, Britain’s transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced that the Spanish archipelago was among the territories added to the UK’s green list as of next Wednesday, meaning travellers will not need to quarantine when returning to the UK.
Last month Spain began allowing British travellers into the country without the need to provide a negative Covid test, a move that sharply contrasts with the growing push by EU leaders to tighten restrictions on British tourists.
The 14-day infection rate in the Balearics is among the lowest in Spain at 48 per 100,000 inhabitants. Before the pandemic, the islands, which also include Ibiza and Menorca, relied heavily on British tourism, with approximately 3.7 million holidaymakers arriving in 2019.
The region’s green-list status was declared hours after several regions in Spain began sounding the alarm over clusters of coronavirus cases among high school students who had travelled to Mallorca earlier this month.
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Matt Hancock branded a "hypocrite" by Lib Dems
Health secretary Matt Hancock is facing calls to resign after being accused of having an affair with an adviser to his department.
Stills from what appeared to be CCTV footage in the health secretary’s Whitehall office, published in the Sun, showed Hancock in what the paper called a “clinch” with Gina Coladangelo, who he first met when they were at Oxford University.
Responding to reports that the health secretary may have broken Covid rules, the Lib Dems’ spokesperson for health and social care, Munira Wilson MP, said:
Matt Hancock is a terrible health secretary and should have been sacked a long time ago for his failures.
This latest episode of hypocrisy will break the trust with the British public. He was telling families not to hug loved ones, while doing whatever he liked in the workplace.
It’s clear that he does not share the public’s values. Rules for them and rules for us is no way to run a country.
From the PPE scandal, the crisis in our care service and the unbelievably poor test and trace system, he has utterly failed. It is time for the health secretary to go.
Meanwhile Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said on Twitter said he should resign for his record as health secretary rather than his private life.
The reason Matt Hancock should resign is that he is a terrible Health Secretary, not because of his private life. From the PPE scandal, the crisis in our care service and the unbelievably poor test and trace system, he has utterly failed.
— Ed Davey MP 🔶🇪🇺 (@EdwardJDavey) June 25, 2021
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Easing restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers is a “sensible approach”, according to a leading expert.
Prof Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental to the first lockdown in March 2020, said people who have had both doses of a coronavirus vaccine are less likely to become seriously ill or transmit the virus.
The government has announced it intends to lift the quarantine requirement for people in that category returning from a location on its amber travel list later this summer.
Ferguson said:
The effectiveness of two doses of vaccine preventing infection is, depending on the vaccine, somewhere between, we think, 80-90%.
Even if you do get infected, first of all you’re much less likely to be severely ill.
But you’re also, and this is important for travel, much less likely to transmit - probably half as infectious as somebody who wasn’t vaccinated.
So overall that leads to double vaccinated people really only posing somewhere between five and 10% of the risk of importing a case than somebody who wasn’t vaccinated.
So, in the sense that we are balancing risks versus benefits here, I think it’s a sensible approach to move to loosening restrictions if people have had two vaccine doses.
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A Canadian health worker who has cared for dying Covid-19 patients and their families has been told her visa to stay in the UK will not be extended, her MP has said.
Kim Stewart has worked in intensive care at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University hospital since December, and on New Year’s Eve she tended to a patient in their 30s who had less than 24 hours to live, PA Media reports.
Stewart has also spent time with patients’ relatives, preparing them to say their final goodbyes before their loved one died from coronavirus in hospital.
The Covid support worker has also joined the vaccination rollout programme.
Middlesbrough Labour MP Andy McDonald said Stewart had been told she does not qualify for a one-year visa extension for frontline health workers.
He said:
I am appalled that someone like Kim, who has worked tirelessly for our wonderful NHS, supporting many victims of Covid, is being treated so dismissively.
How her work cannot be considered important enough to qualify for the visa extension is incomprehensible.
The care and support she has given to patients and their families has been beyond measure.
McDonald has written to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, and the home secretary, Priti Patel, asking them to reconsider.
He said: “Kim, and others who do similar jobs, deserve our utmost gratitude and they should have the right to continue doing that work on behalf of the NHS.”
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Scotland’s population grew by just 2,700 people last year, the lowest rate for nearly 20 years, after the country recorded the largest natural population decrease on record.
National Records of Scotland, the statistics agency, said its population estimates for 30 June 2020 showed there were 14,500 more deaths than births.
Many of the 63,100 deaths recorded for that 12-month period were attributed to 4,158 Covid fatalities during the first three months of the pandemic and 31% excess deaths overall, compared with 48,700 births (figures are rounded up and down).
Net migration from within the UK and from overseas, which has driven Scotland’s population growth in recent decades, also fell to 16,900. That was 13,300 fewer than in mid-2019.
NRS said this meant that overall, the country’s population grew last year by just 0.05%, the lowest figure since 2003, taking the estimated total to 5.47 million. The average growth for the previous five years had been around 23,000 new residents a year, peaking at 0.72% growth in 2009-10.
Esther Roughsedge, the agency’s head of population and migration statistics, said:
A key reason for this small increase is the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the last year we have seen a 4% reduction in births and a 12% increase in deaths.
Also, the difference between the number of people coming to Scotland and those leaving is smaller than in any of the previous six years.
Only 12 of Scotland’s 32 council areas showed population growth, nearly all of which were in the central belt, with the exception of Orkney and Aberdeen, which was driven by inward migration. Only one council, Midlothian, recorded more births than deaths.
NRS estimated that 9,000 more people from the rest of the UK moved to Scotland than left; 7,900 more people migrated to Scotland from overseas than left.
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Covid-19 pandemic sees slowest UK population growth since 2001
The UK population grew by an estimated 0.4% in the 12 months to June 2020, the lowest annual increase for nearly two decades, reflecting the impact of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 67.1 million people are likely to have been living in the UK in the middle of last year, up from an estimated 66.8 million in mid-2019.
The year-on-year rise of around 284,000 is the smallest since the 12 months to mid-2001, PA news reports.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show the year to mid-2020 saw the highest number of deaths in the UK since the year to mid-1986.
The first wave of Covid-19, which began in the UK in March of last year, accounted for more than 55,000 of these deaths.
Covid-19 also had an impact on migration within the country, with an estimated 11% fewer internal moves than in the previous year.
This is likely to reflect the lockdown introduced across the UK at the end of March, which imposed severe restrictions on people being able to move home.
Neil Park, of the ONS population estimates unit, said:
The 12 months to June 2020 can be broken into two clear parts: the first eight months, when births, deaths and migration patterns were similar to trends seen in recent years; and the four months from March, when the first wave of coronavirus hit.
Some of the clearest impacts of the pandemic can be seen in the increase in the number of deaths and reduction in the number of moves made within the UK.
There were a total of 700,700 births in the UK in year to mid-2020, the ONS said – the fewest in any year since 2003 – while the number of deaths in the same period was 669,200.
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Almost 600m lateral flow tests given to the public in England may not yet have been used, according to a report that says the hugely expensive test-and-trace system is still bedevilled by problems.
The National Audit Office said NHS Test and Trace (NSHT&T), which Boris Johnson promised would be world-beating and has a budget exceeding that of the Department for Transport, was struggling with some “fundamental parts” of its role.
In a move to help track and suppress the spread of coronavirus, NHST&T distributed 691m quick-result tests to people across England with the aim of helping people return to workplaces.
The NAO said results from only 14% of them had been registered, meaning almost 600m were unaccounted for.
“NHST&T does not know whether the tests that have not been registered have been used or not,” the report says. “It has started a programme of research to understand why the registration of test results is so low and is working to increase public awareness of the need to register results and improve its ability to track tests.”
The startling finding will increase scrutiny of the test-and-trace system, which was hailed by the prime minister as a vital part of the government’s plan to beat coronavirus, and of its former head Dido Harding, who is seeking to become the next head of the NHS.
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Professor Adam Finn, who is working from Portugal – where his partner lives – for some of the time, told Sky News the UK poses more of a risk to some other countries at the moment than the other way round.
He said:
I think these islands, where they’ve been added to the green list, have been added because there are very low, almost absent levels of virus there, so they pose very limited risk to the UK, particularly if people coming back are being tested on the way.
So I think the risk actually is greater for those places – that people coming from this country at this point in time may take the virus with them and infect other people there, but of course that decision lies with them and these are countries that depend on tourism income for their livelihood. So, again, a balance of risk and benefit.
He said it was a “theoretical possibility” that Britons mingling with people from other countries could cause a mutation that could be brought back to the UK.
He said:
Because we’ve got this more infectious variant circulating in the UK, I think we actually pose more of a risk to most other places than they do to us, at least if you’re talking about these kind of tourist destinations at this point in time.
But you’re quite right that that can change and the virus has the capacity to evolve further, and we could once again import another virus at some point in time if a lot of us go travelling, so there is always a risk involved in this, until the pandemic is brought under control globally.
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The German chancellor will visit the UK on Friday 2 July, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Boris Johnson will host Angela Merkel at Chequers for the visit.
The spokesperson said:
This will be a chance to discuss a range of issues, including deepening the UK-Germany relationship and the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Prof Adam Finn, from the JCVI, said there was still “a high level of uncertainty” over whether booster vaccinations will be needed this autumn.
He told Sky News:
But in order to avoid the risk of a winter surge, we may well need to use booster doses, particularly I think in the first instance for the people who had the vaccine (the) longest time ago and who are at highest risk of getting seriously ill when they get infected.
So that would include the very elderly and potentially healthcare workers as well, who got the vaccines earlier on in the year. So I don’t think this is a certainty yet, but I think there’s a high probability that at least some boosting will need to go on this winter.
He said experts do not know for certain whether everybody will need a vaccination, adding: “We will learn as we go along.”
He said:
It’s not really going to be feasible to go all the way around and do everyone straightaway – as we’ve already seen it has taken more than half a year to work our way through the population.
And although vaccine supplies will increase, it’s a massive exercise to go around and immunise everyone again, and that may well not let it not turn out to be necessary, so we’ll see as we go.
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Asked about the safety of people gathering for large-scale events, Prof Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told Sky News:
If there is a lot of virus around and larger numbers of cases, then putting a lot of people in one place will certainly result in others acquiring the infection, so it’s a very context-specific thing, and, right at this moment in time, we’re seeing rapid rises in the number of cases in the UK because of this more infectious variant, so I think it should be a time for caution.
Specifically on the British Grand Prix next month, he said he thought “it would be a good idea to try and limit the degree of crowding and particularly how closely people sit together who wouldn’t normally be in contact with each other”.
He said:
We have what happened in the beginning of the pandemic, where large numbers of people went to race meetings and Cheltenham so on and, as a result, lots of people got infected and died.
Asked whether he agrees with former chief medical officer Prof Dame Sally Davies, who said people who have had two vaccinations should continue to be careful, Finn said:
Yes. Vaccines are very important for this, they definitely reduce your risk of both infection and passing it on but they don’t eliminate it entirely.
The safety of putting people together who have been vaccinated is greater than people who are unvaccinated, but if there’s a lot of virus circulating there will still be infections taking place.
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As of 21 June, there have been 117 deaths in England of people who were confirmed as having the Delta variant and who died within 28 days of a positive test.
Of this number, eight were under the age of 50 and 109 were over 50, PA Media reports.
Of the 109 over 50, 38 were unvaccinated, one was within 21 days of a first dose of vaccine, 17 more than 21 days after one dose of vaccine and 50 had received both doses.
Of the eight under 50, two were more than 21 days after a first dose of vaccine and six were unvaccinated.
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Labour said the government needed to answer whether the health secretary had broken any rules or there had been “conflicts of interest” in the appointment of his closest adviser, PA Media reports.
It follows reports that Matt Hancock has been having a relationship with a senior aide whom he first met when they were at Oxford University.
An opposition spokesperson said:
Ministers, like everyone, are entitled to a private life.
However, when taxpayers’ money is involved or jobs are being offered to close friends who are in a personal relationship with a minister, then that needs to be looked into.
The government needs to be open and transparent about whether there are any conflicts of interests or rules that have been broken.
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Delta variant cases up by 46% on last week
A total of 111,157 confirmed and probable cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant have now been identified in the UK, Public Health England said.
This is up by 35,204, or 46%, on the previous week.
Of the total, 102,019 have been in England, 7,738 in Scotland, 788 in Wales and 612 in Northern Ireland.
The most recent data shows that approximately 95% of confirmed cases of coronavirus across the UK are the Delta variant, PA Media reports.
A total of 1,320 people have been admitted to hospital in England with the Delta variant as of 21 June, a rise of 514 on the previous week, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.
Nine hundred and two of the 1,320 people were under the age of 50 while 418 were over 50.
Of the 902 under 50, 695 (77%) were unvaccinated, 79 (9%) within 21 days of their first dose of vaccine, 85 (9%) more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine and 27 (3%) were fully vaccinated.
Of the 418 over 50, 136 (33%) were unvaccinated, nine (2%) within 21 days of their first dose of vaccine, 104 (25%) more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine and 163 (39%) were fully vaccinated.
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The UK transport secretary has refused to say he would book a foreign holiday for himself and his family yet, even as travel restrictions are eased for several destinations.
Grant Shapps warned anyone looking to travel abroad that the rules could change at short notice after Malta, Madeira and the Balearic islands, among others, were added to the list of countries from which travellers could return without having to quarantine.
But there was concern across the beleaguered travel sector, with one prominent figure accusing the government of being “overly cautious”.
Shapps said: “People will have to come to their own decisions ... If people are in a situation where, from next week, they wanted to get away then these are the places where you can go for the purposes of holiday, of course, being aware of all the caveats about the risk of things changing because … that happens with quite a lot of regularity.”
And he acknowledged that the ongoing pandemic meant the status of any country could change with no notice, with those on the “green watchlist” most likely to see harsher restrictions reimposed.
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Countries like Germany with a lower domestic vaccine rate are bound to be “more concerned” about letting people in, compared to nations such as Malta, the transport secretary has suggested.
Grant Shapps told BBC Breakfast:
I think it is understandable if you are in Germany – I heard what the chancellor [Angela Merkel] said yesterday – and you have yet to reach the level of vaccination that we have seen here or in Malta, that you’re going to be more concerned.
That may be just a question of waiting for their vaccination programme.
I think different countries in Europe will take different views and, yes, I’m talking to my counterparts in different locations – Malta we know are keen to accept British tourists, Spain because we’ve got the Balearics. We’ll see what happens.
I suspect different European countries will come to different conclusions, depending on their own domestic rollout of the vaccination programme, and it is probably in most cases a question of being patient and waiting to see what happens with their domestic programmes.
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A longtime friend of Matt Hancock would have gone through a “very rigorous” process before being given a job at the health department, Grant Shapps has said, after photographs emerged of Hancock kissing the woman.
Stills from what appeared to be CCTV footage in the health secretary’s Whitehall office, published in the Sun, showed Hancock in what the paper called a “clinch” with Gina Coladangelo, who he first met when they were at Oxford University.
In November last year, Labour complained about apparent cronyism after it emerged that Coladangelo, head of marketing at the Oliver Bonas retail chain, was first made an unpaid adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care, and then a non-executive director, a part-time role paid £15,000 a year.
Labour said that while ministers are “entitled to a private life”, there needed to be full transparency about whether any rules had been broken over the appointment.
Shapps, the transport secretary, said such roles involved significant civil service oversight, and declined to comment on the nature of the relationship between Hancock and Coladangelo.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
The only thing I know is that if you are appointed to a government position there are very rigorous programmes in place when people are appointed, which require all sorts of civil service sign off before public money is spent.
That’s the situation I’m sure will be followed in a position like this.
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The government’s approach to foreign travel rules is “all based on the scientific evidence”, the transport secretary has said.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Grant Shapps said the Joint Biosecurity Centre was tracking epidemiological data such as a country’s vaccination levels, their ability to track the genome sequencing of Covid-19, and how open they are with data.
He was asked about arguments that some destinations, such as some Greek islands and the US, should be added to the green list according to data.
Shapps said:
It’s all based on the scientific evidence”, adding that some islands often lack a genomic sequencing ability, while in the US the “picture is mixed”.
There’s no circumstance in which there is not a scientific basis and I encourage people to look at the way that the Joint Biosecurity Centre do this.
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Good morning. Transport secretary Grant Shapps has warned anyone looking to travel abroad that the rules could change at short notice after Malta, Madeira and the Balearic, among others, were added to the UK’s green list.
But there was concern across the beleaguered travel sector, with one prominent figure accusing the government of being “overly cautious”.
Shapps said:
People will have to come to their own decisions ... If people are in a situation where, from next week, they wanted to get away then these are the places where you can go for the purposes of holiday, of course, being aware of all the caveats about the risk of things changing because … that happens with quite a lot of regularity.
He also said international travel would not be returning to as it was before coronavirus but that he hoped the announcement of a green watchlist would give people holiday options.
The cabinet minister told Sky News:
It does mean there is a little bit of relief for the travel industry and for people who wish to get away.
It won’t be quite like it was in 2019 and the old days, but we are moving in a positive direction.
Pressed on whether he would book a holiday to Majorca, which is on the green watchlist, Shapps said:
I should just explain the green watchlist.It means they are on the green list, you can go and it is treated like a green list country, but we are just being completely open with the data that the scientists have given us in saying, there are one or two concerns, it might mean we have to perhaps respond quickly on there, so we’ve said it is the green watchlist in order that people can see exactly what we’re seeing.
I do have to say whoever is booking to go anywhere this summer at all, travel insurance, making sure your flights are changeable, making sure the accommodation is changeable – all those things are going to be very important in this particular year and I think people will need to weigh up whether that is going to work for them or not.
In other news, Matt Hancock has been accused of having an affair with an adviser to his department.
The Sun published pictures of the married cabinet minister appearing to kiss Gina Coladangelo, who the newspaper said was hired by Hancock last year.
The images, which appear to be captured from CCTV footage, were taken on 6 May from the headquarters of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the newspaper has said.
I’m Nicola Slawson and I’ll be leading the liveblog today. I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. Alternatively, you can email me at nicola.slawson@theguardian.com or on Twitter, I’m on @Nicola_Slawson.
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