Matt Hancock footage leak discussed by intelligence expert

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Matt Hancock resigned as health secretary in disgrace over the weekend after a video of him emerged showing him kissing a close aide, proving he’d broken the coronavirus social distancing rules he’d helped install. Mr Hancock and Gina Coladangelo, both married with three children each, are now said to have left their spouses and are reportedly moving in together.

On Monday, it emerged the footage which captured the clandestine tryst was departmental CCTV rather than a covert camera.

On Tuesday, the Evening Standard quoted a “senior source” as saying that everyone in Whitehall believed the camera was purposefully tampered with.

The source claimed: “We all think Matt Hancock was really stitched up on this.”

Allegedly, the camera was initially installed to face glass doors onto a balcony, which was seen as a security weak point.

But the camera was somehow turned, leading those in the know to think it was tampered with by someone out to catch Mr Hancock in the act.

The Sun claimed it was passed the recordings by a whistleblower, amid concerns about security in Government.

The emergence of the footage caused alarm that sensitive meetings and conversations by ministers may be being monitored.

Several ministers have expressed surprise at the presence of CCTV in a government office.

Private contractors were reportedly hired to monitor the camera, rather than the police or government sources.

The Department for Health and Social Care declined to comment.

A spokesman said: “DHSC continues to review its internal security processes.”

Boris Johnson said he was “sure all that kind of thing is going to be looked into”.

The security review will be accompanied by a separate investigation into whether there are any implications for arrangements in Parliament.

Asking an urgent question in the Commons, Conservative MP Peter Bone said the issues raised were of “national concern”.

He said there was a long-standing rule that secret recordings of MPs by the police, security services or state are outlawed under a principle known as the “Wilson doctrine”, named after the former prime minister, Harold Wilson.

Responding, Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez said the government took concerns about security “very seriously”.

She said the footage was recorded by departmental CCTV – which has since been disabled – rather than a covert camera.

But Labour’s Chris Bryant said it “blows my mind” that Ms Lopez was suggesting that Mr Hancock knew there was a camera in his office.

And former minister Angela Eagle claimed Mr Hancock “would not have behaved in the way he behaved right in front of it” if he knew the recording device had been there, adding: “I think she’s stretching credibility.”

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