Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has admitted his affair with Gina Coladangelo has “blown up” his life.
Mr Hancock was forced to resign after pictures of his lockdown affair in his office were brought to light.
24 hours after pictures were splashed across national newspapers, he was forced to step down as Boris Johnson’s health secretary.
Mr Hancock has apologised for his actions in his first TV interview since the public scandal in June on ITV’s Peston show.
Matt Hancock speaks to ITV in first TV interview since affair scandal
After The Sun published photos of a kiss inside his office with his employee Downing Street released a statement saying the “matter was closed” and the former cabinet minister did not resign for a full day.
Pressed on this, Hancock said: “As you can imagine, the first thing I focused on was my personal life, and then when I focused on my professional responsibilities, I decided I had to resign.”
"I'd blown up every part of my life. I concentrated on my personal life first as you can probably imagine... I made the decision," he said.
"It was clearly the right decision. I just say sorry again for the failure. I let a lot of people down. I'm sorry to the people that I hurt."
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) June 26, 2021
Asked whether he is trying to get back into government, Mr Hancock said: “I’m not in any hurry, I think being on the backbenches…I’m enjoying it but also it’s a very important job and contributions from people who have been there in the heat of battle…if I can make that sort of contribution then I’m enjoying doing that.”
Hancock went on to deny that he was involved in giving out a £40 million contract to a company in his constituency.
He told Peston: “I had absolutely nothing to do with that contract…the gentlemen in question and his company did not get a contract with the department or the NHS, they were a subcontractor.”
He added: “People are trying to insinuate there is a problem where there isn’t one.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article