Minister quits after support from Tories ebbed away
Matt Hancock resigned after a day pressure on his position mounted and support from his own party ebbed away.
The tone was set on Radio 4 at breakfast time when a friend of the minister, meant to go on-air to defend him, refused to answer his phone.
Duncan Baker became the first Conservative politician to openly call for Hancock to quit. The North Norfolk MP said: “In my view people in high public office and great positions of responsibility should act with the appropriate morals and ethics that come with that role.
“Matt Hancock, on a number of measures, has fallen short of that. As an MP who is a devoted family man, married for 12 years with a wonderful wife and children, standards and integrity matter to me. I will not in any shape condone this behaviour.”
Former government minister Esther Mcvey said she would have resigned had she been in Hancock’s position and hoped he was “thinking the same thing”. However, former Tory minister Edwina Currie, who had an affair with then prime minister John Major when in office in the 1980s, said it should not be a resignation issue: “They’ve obviously got some explaining to do to their families, but other than that it’s none of our business.”