Monday 28 February 2022 1:30 pm

Matt Hancock admits ‘mistakes’ were made in tell all interview

Matt Hancock has been accused of having an affair with his closest aide after pictures emerged last night of the health secretary kissing Gina Coladangelo. — Matt Hancock has admitted 'mistakes' were made in the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has lifted the lid on time spent at the helm of government amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hancock said he endured sleepless nights after being landed with the responsibility of making key decisions to combat the spread of Covid-19. Appearing on an episode of Steven Bartlett’s podcast the former health secretary admitted mistakes were made by the government in its handling of coronavirus and addressed the “pain” caused by his affair with Gina Coladangelo which led to his resignation.

“There were some mistakes we made in terms of the measures we brought in,” said Hancock, admitting that he faced “sleepless nights” over decisions made at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic such as the timing of the lockdown.

“Obviously its something that I’ll always think about,” he added.

“There’s an inquiry that will come and go through all these things,” he continued. “And I’m actually looking forwards to it because there’s a whole series of points where we’ve got to make sure we learn the right lesson.”

Commenting on his resignation Hancock said that he bears “no bitterness,” about the demand that he step down from government.

“The release of those images caused a huge amount of pain,” said Hancock, referring to the release of photos and a video in the Sun Newspaper which revealed he had been having an affair with his colleague Coladangelo, in breach of Covid-19 rules.

While Hancock admitted to breaching his own guidelines he denied having casual sex.

“Gina and I love each other very deeply,” Hancock said.

“I resigned because I broke the social distancing guidelines. By then they weren’t actually rules – they weren’t the law – but the point is they were the guidelines that I have been proposing,” said Hancock, who regrets the pain caused by the “very, very, very public” nature of the affair.

Commenting on his relationship to the British public, Hancock said he receives mixed feedback about his time as Health Secretary.

“My experience as Health Secretary is you get some people who love you and some people hate you,” said Hancock, admitting he is often unsure about how members of the public will react to meeting him.