Matt Hancock and his aide Gina Coladangelo are serious about each other friends have revealed as the shamed Health Secretary quit his job tonight and walked out on his marriage.
Mr Hancock bowed to growing pressure on Saturday evening, less than 48 hours after pictures emerged of him in a passionate embrace with Ms Coladangelo at the Department of Health, as he told Boris Johnson in his letter of resignation that the Government ‘owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down’.
Now it has come to light that the former Health Secretary told his wife, Martha, he would be leaving her on Thursday night – immediately after discovering that his affair with Gina Coladangelo was about to be laid bare.
Images and video showed Mr Hancock in an embrace with aide Ms Coladangelo last month, and the Health Secretary was facing increasing pressure to quit over the breaking of social-distancing rules.
Friends said on Saturday night the pair had been seeing each other for around six weeks, but were a ‘love match’.
In a video announcing his resignation Mr Hancock said: ‘The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.
‘I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need (to) be with my children at this time.’
He will be replaced by former chancellor and home secretary Sajid Javid, it has been announced.
