THERE are some UK Cabinet ministers who would seem like natural candidates for a retro sex scandal. Matt Hancock is not one of them. Not least because a health secretary during a global pandemic should have more pressing matters to attend to than who he can press himself up against.

By now, you will have seen the photos of Matt Hancock’s career-ending “clinch” with an aide. Perhaps you took your quest for cringe one step further and watched the video, too. Before the agonising clip was released by The Sun, it appeared as though Hancock was going to do a Johnson and simply brazen out the scandal. He apologised for “breaching Covid guidance” and asked for privacy. No resignation, no recognition of the reality of the mess he was in. The Prime Minister said he considered the matter closed.

The matter wasn’t closed, of course. It’s not in Boris Johnson’s gift to decide when a scandal begins and ends – though his talent for placing himself at the beginning of so many of them is unmatched in UK politics.

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When the video footage was released, social media reacted as you would expect. Hancock has always been the subject of a fair amount of gentle mockery but this sealed his fate. Any authority he had left was in tatters. Who is going to take lectures about “hands, face, space” from a guy who breaches his own legislation in a hot and heavy demonstration of do as I say, not as I do? In politics, the silence of your friends can be every bit as damning as the criticism of your enemies. Few were willing to go on TV to defend the Secretary of State for Dry Humping and in the end, he had no choice but to fall on his sword. Thankfully, he put it away first.

The Sunday papers were full of titbits about the affair, which “friends” of Hancock insist is more “love match” than fling.

On Thursday night, when Hancock learned that The Sun was about to publish a front-page splash on his indiscretions, he rushed home to break the news to his wife. It has been reported that during that same conversation he also announced to her that their marriage was over and then woke up his youngest child to say he was leaving.

And so, off he goes with his love match, into the sunset and on to the backbenches.

What happens next? The same thing that always happens. The Conservative Party playbook is reassuringly predictable. When a scandal hits, they open with “nothing to see here” which, more often than not, works. The story fizzles out, the media go elsewhere and the public lose interest.

On the rare occasions they are forced to admit that there actually is something to see here, they do so in the hope that a sacking or resignation will mark the end of it.

When Boris Johnson and his Cabinet ministers eventually emerge from their weekend bunkers, that is the line they are sure to take. That doesn’t mean we should accept it, though.

Of all the details of the Hancock scandal, the fact he had an affair and was filmed getting handsy in his office is the least damaging. It made for an explosive front page, but it’s the details that have emerged since that require attention now.

“Friends” of Hancock say his affair with Gina Coladangelo only began a month ago. Others suspect it has been going on for far longer than that. Which begs the question: was their affair already under way when he put her on the public payroll last year? And how was Hancock filmed inside his office, apparently without his knowledge?

And then there’s the curious case of Lord Bethell. The hereditary peer sponsored Gina Coladangelo’s parliamentary pass to gain access to the estate. Peers are allowed to sponsor up to three parliamentary passes for those who “provide parliamentary, secretarial or research assistance” to them. But it has since emerged that she never actually worked for him and so Lord Bethell now faces an investigation by the standards watchdog.

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Even before his smooching on the job was exposed, Matt Hancock was accused of being part of a “chumocracy” in his handling of the Covid pandemic, including in how government contracts were awarded.

And now he’s facing yet another investigation, this time into allegations that he used a personal email account for government dealings. The reports suggest that this wasn’t one or two stray emails that were sent against the guidelines, but a routine practice for Hancock. Improper work admin practices might not be as compelling as illicit kisses against a wall but this stuff matters.

If the reports are correct, it would mean that the government – and the public – don’t have access to a comprehensive record of the health secretary’s dealings and negotiations with officials during the pandemic.

The tale of a minister being brought down by a cheating scandal may feel a bit too close for comfort for Boris Johnson but there are serious questions that now need to be answered, regardless of whether he considers the matter closed or not.