Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

BREAKING: Matt Hancock resigns as Health Secretary after admitting breaking Covid rules

.

Matt Hancock has resigned as Health Secretary in a letter to Boris Johnson after admitting he broke the current Covid-safety guidelines.

It comes after embarrassing footage emerged of him in a clinch with a colleague on May 6, when the public were still being advised not to hug people outside their household.

In his letter of resignation, Mr Hancock said he will step down from his post as the Government “owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down”.

He added: “The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.

“I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need (to) be with my children at this time.”

The Sun published pictures of the married Cabinet minister appearing to kiss his close friend Gina Coladangelo, who the newspaper said was hired by Mr Hancock last year.

The images, apparently captured from CCTV footage, were taken on May 6 at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the newspaper adds.

Mr Hancock, who met Ms Coladangelo at Oxford University, where they both worked on the student radio station, has been married to his wife Martha for 15 years and they have three children.

Following his resignation, the former Health Secretary posted a video on social media explaining the reasons for his decision.

He said: “I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made and those of us who make these rule have got to stick by them – and that’s why I’ve got to resign.

“I want to thank people for their incredible sacrifices and what they’ve done – everybody working in the NHS and across social care, everyone involved in the vaccine programme and frankly everybody in this country who has risen to the challenges we’ve seen over the past 18 months.”

Mr Hancock added he’s very proud of the progress that has been made with the vaccination roll-out in the country and he will continue to support the Government from the back benches “with all of his heart”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “sorry” to receive Matt Hancock’s resignation as Health Secretary.

He said Mr Hancock “should leave office very proud of what you have achieved – not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us”.

Mr Johnson added: “I am grateful for your support and believe that your contribution to public service is far from over.”