Matt Hancock has admitted his lockdown affair with an aide has ‘blown up every part of his life’.
He was forced to resign from his role as health secretary when leaked footage showed him kissing employee Gina Coladangelo in his office.
It took 24 hours for him to resign following public outcry at the married father-of-three for blatantly flouting his own social distancing guidance.
In his first TV interview since losing his job, the former cabinet minister apologised to the public again for the scandal.
Mr Hancock was pressed on why it took him a full day to resign after the story broke in The Sun, during which Downing Street said it considered ‘the matter closed’ following an apology.
He 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.’
Pressed on why he thought he wasn’t sacked immediately by Boris Johnson, he refused to ‘go into conversations I had with the prime minister’.
Mr Hancock added: ‘I made the decision, it was clearly the right decision, I would just say sorry again for the failure…I let a lot of people down and I’m sorry to the people I hurt.’
He also denied Labour’s charge that he was able to hold on to his job for 24 hours because the government ‘does not follow the same rules as everybody else’.
The former health secretary said: ‘No, I actually totally disagree with that because I resigned and took responsibility for my actions.’
His appearance on ITV marks the latest stage in his attempt at a public comeback and comes on the back of a number of appearances in the House of Commons during high profile debates.
Asked if he was 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.’
Mr Hancock also said ‘we should test the hell out of ourselves’ to ‘keep things open’ over the Christmas period adding that the government is ‘right to be worried’ about the Omicron variant.
He also said it was ‘really important’ that lateral flow tests ‘stay free’ following reports the government could look to introduce a charge for the kits from next year.
Asked if Dr Jenny Harries, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief, was right to warn against unnecessary social interactions, he said: ‘Saying things like we may need to go further on working from home is perfectly reasonable. But I don’t think we’re there yet.’
He was also pressed on whether he helped a constituent, the former landlord of his local pub, to obtain a multimillion-pound contract to supply test tubes for NHS Covid-19 testing.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds had insisted Mr Hancock should ‘set the record straight’ and withdraw his remark that it was a ‘fabrication’ to suggest his friend and West Suffolk constituent Alex Bourne applied for or received a contract from the Government or NHS.
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’.
Mr Hancock added: ‘People are trying to insinuate there is a problem where there isn’t one’
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