THE Prime Minister’s former chief adviser has poked fun at “conspicuously silent” journalists after Matt Hancock was caught on film kissing a close aide.

Pressure is mounting on Hancock to resign – and on Boris Johnson to call in the Government’s ethics adviser – after the Health Secretary was caught in the “steamy clinch” with Gina Coladangelo on CCTV.

Lawyers described how Hancock may have broken the law regarding coronavirus restrictions, although he admitted only to breaching guidance.

There were also questions about Coladangelo’s appointment to her role in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the first place.

The pair are understood to be friends from their university days. Both are married, with three children each.

READ MORE: Matt Hancock accused of cheating on his wife with close aide Gina Coladangelo

Hancock apologised yesterday, while Downing Street said Johnson considers the matter to be “closed”.

Dominic Cummings, who placed much blame for the Government’s response to the coronavirus crisis at Hancock’s feet during a committee appearance last month, and leaked messages appearing to be from the Prime Minister describing the Health Secretary as “f****** hopeless”, has now spoken up amid the ongoing row.

Cummings used Twitter to stir the pot, writing: “If you’re new to the media game, an easy way to spot the hacks/pundits Hancock leaks to is by watching those conspicuously silent now …

“The ones who tell the truth about him now – you can be sure he ain’t a regular source for them, & vice versa!”

The National:

Some journalists weren’t quite so sure about Cummings’s theory, with The Mirror’s politics correspondent Mikey Smith responding: “If there’s one thing Cummings is good at, it’s coming up with folksy rules of thumb that sound truthy, but are, in fact, absolute horseshit.”

In a blog post amid the news yesterday, Cummings continued to wage his war against Hancock – writing that the PM thought the Health Secretary was a “catastrophe” but would not fire him.

Cummings also claimed the PM called the track and trace system “like whistling in the dark” and feared the UK would gain the “double distinction of being the European country w[ith] the most fatalities and the biggest economic hit”.

READ MORE: Contracts were properly awarded, says firm with connection to Matt Hancock aide

The former adviser left Downing Street last year in a bitter power struggle, but in recent months has used his blog, social media and appearances before the Health Committee to heavily criticise Hancock’s “failures”.

Meanwhile, a snap poll from Savanta ComRes, released hours after photographs of the pair kissing in Hancock’s ministerial office surfaced, found 58% of UK adults thought that Hancock should resign, compared to 25% who thought he should not.

And the Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice group, which represents those who have lost loved ones to the pandemic, also called for Hancock to go.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the group said it had broken its “position of neutrality on ministerial conduct” to urge Johnson to relieve Hancock of his job.