One of the UK’s most senior politicians, the man in charge of the NHS for England, has quit his job in the government after breaking social distancing guidelines.
Matt Hancock, who was England’s Health Secretary, was caught on camera, indoors, kissing one of his colleagues.
His boss, prime minister Boris Johnson says he was “sorry” to receive the resignation. Many people had been arguing that as a senior government official, Mr Hancock should leave his job for not following guidelines put in place by the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Why does this matter?
Matt Hancock was England’s Health Secretary – that’s one of the most important jobs in government.
He was in charge of the NHS in England from the start of the pandemic to the end of June 2021. That meant he regularly appeared on tv and radio, telling the public how important it was to follow the guidelines – including sticking to social distancing.
This is what made many people so angry – they said that if he’s telling others what to do, it is important that he sticks to the same rules.
“I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made,” Mr Hancock told the prime minister in a letter explaining his resignation, adding, “and those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that’s why I have got to resign.”
He also apologised again for breaking the rules, having said “sorry” the day after the pictures emerged.
ReutersYou’ve probably seen Matt Hancock on the TV talking about the latest advice about Covid-19
What guidelines have been broken?
The breach of the guidelines was revealed after a newspaper published photos of Mr Hancock kissing a colleague indoors in his Government office.
The paper says the photos were taken on 6 May 2021 – at that time, the guidelines were to keep two metres apart, if you could, from people who weren’t in your family or bubble, and not to meet them indoors unless it was completely unavoidable.
The pictures show that clearly the guidelines weren’t being followed.
ReutersBoris Johnson said he was “sorry” to see Matt Hancock leave his job as health secretary
What are people saying about it?
Many people had been calling for Mr. Hancock to leave his job over this incident.
People whose relatives have died from Covid are calling for him to be sacked too. Rivka Gottlieb, from a group called Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said: “If he were to announce another lockdown or further regulations why would anybody listen to someone who doesn’t follow the rules themselves?”
MPs from both lots of political parties, including Mr. Hancock’s Conservative party, had called on him to leave his job.
However, after his resignation many political leaders suggested Boris Johnson should have already removed him from his role as health secretary.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: “Matt Hancock is right to resign. But Boris Johnson should have sacked him.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford tweeted: “Massive failure of leadership by Boris Johnson, [Matt] Hancock should have been sacked.”
Boris Johnson will now be expected to appoint a new health secretary to lead the response to the pandemic in England.
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