UK Health Secretary Matthew John David Hancock is a British politician and who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social care from 2018 to 2021. Hancock resigned on Saturday after revelations that he broke the government’s own coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide. 

Previously, he served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport for six months in 2018. Hancock became a member of the Conservative Party in 1999 and has been a Member of Parliament for West Suffolk in 2010.

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In June 2010, he was elected to the Public Accounts Committee and served on this committee until November 2012. Meanwhile, he also served on the Standards and Privileges Committee from October 2010 to December 2012. 

Hancock joined the Department of Business, Innovation, and Skills as the Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise in October 2013 and also took on additional responsibilities as the Minister of State for Portsmouth.  Under prime minister Theresa May, he was moved to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as the Minister of State for Digital and culture. 

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Following that year he was appointed as Secretary for Health and Social Care on 9 July 2018. After Theresa May’s resignation, Hancock continued his role as Health Secretary in prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet. 

It was alleged that he breached social distancing rules with Gina Coladangelo, who is an adviser in the Department of Health and Social Care, after CCTV images of him kissing her were published in the newspaper. The Sun newspaper also claimed that the two have a “secret affair.”