UK health minister resigns after breaching coronavirus rules

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has resigned a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was allegedly having an affair

LONDON -- U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned Saturday, a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was allegedly having an affair. The tabloid Sun newspaper had run images showing Hancock, who is married, and senior aide Gina Coladangelo kissing in an office at the Department of Health. The Sun said the closed circuit television images were taken May 6 — 11 days before lockdown rules were eased to allow hugs and other physical contact with people outside one’s own household. In a resignation letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hancock said the government owed “it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down.” Johnson said he was “sorry” to receive Hancock’s resignation and that he “should leave office very proud of what you have achieved — not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before COVID-19 struck us."