English Health Department to investigate how CCTV footage showing Matt Hancock was leaked

A Cabinet minister has said the English government will launch an internal investigation into how CCTV footage of Matt Hancock was leaked.

Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) would seek to find out how the footage became public, as former Cabinet ministers said they did not have cameras in their offices.

A closed-circuit television leak led to Hancock’s resignation as health secretary yesterday after he was snuggled into an embrace with his aide Gina Coladangelo last month – in breach of his own coronavirus rules.

Hancock had no idea the camera was in his office, according to the Daily Telegraph.

And when Trevor Phillips of Sky News was asked on Sunday about the leak, Lewis said: «It’s something we need to get to.

“It is absolutely true that what happens in government departments can be sensitive and important.

«So, yes, I know this is something that the Department of Health will be putting forward as an internal investigation.»

This comes despite Downing Street declined to comment on Friday on whether an investigation would be opened.

Lewis also told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Shaw that the investigative team will look into the case «across the government», adding: «I must say I always consider it best to assume that whatever you say or write is going to be reported somewhere» .

The former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told the program that it was «totally unacceptable» that ministers were photographed inside their offices.

The chair of the Commons Health Select Committee said: «It is completely unacceptable from a security point of view that ministers are being photographed inside their offices without their knowledge.

«And so there will be issues that our intelligence agencies will want to consider very carefully.»

He added that there was «another issue» – related to the ability of ministers to have private conversations that would «enable them to make the right decisions» without being spied on.