Hancock ally was set to defend him on national radio but failed to show up

Matt Hancock has been left with few people willing to defend him after his kissed his aide in his office (Picture: Reuters / The Sun)

A supporter of Matt Hancock who was due to appear on national radio to defend the health secretary failed to show up.

In the latest blow to the beleaguered minister, the BBC had apparently managed to find someone willing to make the case for why Mr Hancock should stay in his job but the interview never happened.

After he broke his own social distancing rules in order to snog an aide despite being married, the so-far unnamed person would have been a rare voice on Mr Hancock’s side.

Today programme presenters Mishal Husain and Martha Kearney were primed to speak to the guest at 7.20am on the show this morning.

But, they explained, he wasn’t answering his phone. ‘We had been expecting to speak to a supporter of Matt Hancock this morning but he’s not been answering his phone. We will keep trying,’ the presenters said.

Meanwhile, North Norfolk Conservative Duncan Baker has become the first MP to openly call for Mr Hancock to go.

He told his local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press: ‘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.

Caption: Matt Hancock caught on camera having a passionate clinch outside his Whitehall office with aide, Gina Coladangelo (Credits: tbethel)

‘I will not in any shape condone this behaviour and I have in the strongest possible terms told the Government what I think.’

Other Torys, including senior members of the party, have been bombarding the whips office in protest after Boris Johnson refused to sack his health secretary.

Former cabinet minister Edwina Currie did mount a sort of defence of Mr Hancock when she appeared on the radio.

The Conservative, who herself had an affair with former prime minister John Major when both were married in the 1980s, said she felt the public ‘couldn’t care less’ about the incident.

Mr Hancock worked with Gina Coladangelo (left) at the Department of Health (Picture: PA)

Ms Currie told Times Radio: ‘It’s a very thin catalogue of fault – I can’t see Boris with his rather more colourful history giving someone the boot because of stuff like that.

‘Of course he shouldn’t have done it, but as long as Matt Hancock is doing his job properly, I think that’s fine.’

‘I couldn’t care less and I don’t think the electorate could either,’ she added.

When asked what her advice would be for Gina Coladangelo, the woman seen kissing Mr Hancock in CCTV footage, she said: ‘Keep your head down. She is not the target here, the target here is the Secretary of State for Health who is a key member of Government especially in a pandemic.

‘This is politics, and politics and piety don’t go well together, and I would be – I’m sure Boris feels exactly the same – very reluctant indeed to respond to headlines saying “this minister should resign”.’

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