BORIS Johnson was right not to sack Matt Hancock after evidence of his office affair emerged, Michael Gove has said.
Hancock resigned as health secretary after pictures of him kissing an adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care, Gina Coladangelo, were published in The Sun newspaper.
Following the publication of the pictures and subsequent outrage at the breach of Covid social distancing guidance, the Prime Minister claimed through a spokesperson that he “considered the matter closed” after Hancock apologised.
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The West Suffolk MP announced his resignation through a video on Twitter the next day. He was then replaced as Health Secretary by former Chancellor Sajid Javid.
Asked about the saga during a visit to Aberdeen, Gove, the Cabinet Office Minister, said: “I think that Matt made the right decision.
“I think in all of these questions, all of us have an opportunity to reflect on different aspects of the matter.
“But now that Matt has made his decision, I think we should respect that.”
Challenged about whether the Prime Minister, who was himself sacked by former Tory leader Michael Howard from the shadow cabinet in 2004 for lying about an affair, did the right thing by not sacking him, Gove said, “yes”.
He added: “Matt did the right thing and the second thing that I would say is the matter now is resolved because we have a new Health Secretary.”
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In response to another question about Hancock’s conduct, he added: “Matt, to my mind, was a dedicated public servant.
“He made a mistake, but we should remember that he was one of those central to the successful vaccination program and he worked incredibly hard for the NHS.
“He’s now resigned and I think we should respect his privacy now.”
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