WHAT a day for Matt Hancock.
First there’s the picture of him appearing to share a kiss with departmental adviser Gina Coladangelo.
Then it emerges he’s left up an Instagram story encouraging more “brilliant women” to “get involved” in his team.
Now an interview from September 2020 of him discussing relationships during the Covid-19 pandemic has re-emerged, and makes awkward viewing.
Hancock, who is said to have met Coladangelo at university, has been married to his wife Martha for 15 years and they have three children together.
During the interview the Tory minister explains to Kay Burley that under the coronavirus restrictions in place at the time, people should stick to their “established” partners when it comes to sexual contact.
#KayBurley asks the health secretary, 'how long will the ban on casual sex last?'
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 24, 2020
Matt Hancock says sex is "ok in an established relationship" but adds people need to be "careful".
Get live updates on #coronavirus: https://t.co/K1H8hIapJW pic.twitter.com/2uFJlEiMa4
Hancock was asked how an “established relationship” is defined. He told Burley: “In these rules that we have to bring in, there have to be boundaries, to coin a phrase.
“If you’re saying that two households shouldn’t mix, which we are in some parts of the country – in the North East, the North West, in Scotland, in parts of Wales – then you have to then define what is the boundary of that.”
Burley asked if the minister was in an established relationship, to which he replied: “I know that I’m in an established relationship.”
READ MORE: Matt Hancock deletes awkward Instagram post after kissing scandal breaks
The journalist then joked with the uncomfortable Health Secretary, asking “If I say, ‘I love you’?” counts as an established relationship.
Hancock told Burley: “I think we should stick to the letter of it, which is it is OK in an established relationship.
“It just means that people need to be careful, they need to be sensible.
“If you’re in a relationship that is well established, what it means is people realising that coming into close contact with people from other households, then that is how the virus spreads.”
Though there's no suggestion that Hancock broke the rules he set out here, it was uncomfortable viewing then, and equally uncomfortable viewing now.
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