The Metropolitan Police Service has confirmed it will not open an investigation into Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo’s apparent breaches of Covid regulations in May 2021.
On June 25, 2021, The Sun reported that Hancock and his aide were in a relationship, publishing an image of the pair embracing. The next day, the Tory minister resigned as health secretary, saying he had breached social distancing guidelines.
Hancock has however consistently denied breaching the law on indoor gatherings. This is despite the fact that on May 6, 2021, when the photo is believed to have been taken, indoor gatherings with anyone outside of people’s households were forbidden, unless in exceptional circumstances.
When quizzed about whether England was subject to Step 2 lockdown rules on the date in question in an interview on Good Morning Britain, the former health secretary said he wasn’t sure if that was the case.
When the Sun splashed the scandal, the Met said it would not be investigating the potential breach. At the time, the police service said: “As a matter of course the Met is not investigating Covid related issues retrospectively.”
As the Good Law Project reports, the same policy was used to justify the Met’s refusal to investigate Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s breach of lockdown rules, something which the campaign organisation had challenged.
In a letter to the Met in February 2023, the Good Law Project asked the service to investigate the apparent breaches of Covid regulations by Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo, arguing there was a strong case to open such an investigation given that Hancock knew or should have known he was breaching the law. The group also warned that the Met’s failure to investigate would undermine the public’s faith in the rule of law.
“We believe the Metropolitan Police’s policies dictate that an investigation must now be opened following Mr Hancock’s disclosure of the date of his clinch with his then colleague and lover, Ms Coladangelo,” the campaigners said.
Despite the Good Law Project highlighting a potential violation of the indoor gathering restrictions in England at the time by the former health secretary and Gina Goladangelo, and calls for the Met to confirm an investigation has been opened, the police service stated that the incident does not meet the criteria and told the campaign organisation that “an investigation will not be commenced.”
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Pippa Fowles / Number 10 Downing Street – Creative Commons
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