![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/20\/77408617-0-image-a-18_1699131291538.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock\u2019s naked ambition was a feature of the Covid crisis.<\/p>\n
The amount of attention he received, and created for himself, was unprecedented.<\/p>\n
He became infected by hubris, always desperately seeking publicity and a camera.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But not the one in his office to catch him kissing his aide \u2013 there are huge questions around how that happened.<\/p>\n
One very senior civil servant commented: \u2018It felt like every decision Hancock made during Covid was based on whether it would get him on the news or make him look like a hero. To Matt, every decision was about how did it benefit Matt?\u2019 Ouch.<\/p>\n
Boris told me: \u2018I liked Matt. I think he tried; he worked really hard. And we had to make some pretty bloody appalling decisions.\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Health Secretary, 42, pictured with millionaire lobbyist Gina Coladangelo<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/20\/77408685-0-image-a-19_1699131294279.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The duo, both married to other people, had CCTV footage of them kissing leaked to the press in June 2021\u00a0<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/20\/44688437-0-Gina_Coladangelo_43_walks_towards_married_Mr_Hancock_who_backs_u-a-20_1699131299441.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Gina Coladangelo, 43, walks towards married Mr Hancock, who backs up against the closed door as the pair become immersed in a heated embrace<\/p>\n
But he must have offended someone \u2013 and they were out to get him. After footage of him kissing Gina Coladangelo in his office was given to the Sun newspaper, he was forced to resign.<\/p>\n
Gina\u2019s was a well-known face. She had attended numerous meetings in No 10 with Matt and been with him at a G7 health meeting in Oxford, where they undoubtedly shared the same room. I know this because, at the time, I asked someone who was there: \u2018Are they sleeping together? Because, if so, that doesn\u2019t look good for the G7.\u2019<\/p>\n
He deflected: \u2018I asked, I was worried too. Matt has promised me they aren\u2019t.\u2019 He sounded far from convincing.<\/p>\n
If I knew, Matt\u2019s enemies definitely knew, too.<\/p>\n
And we now know the security camera in Matt\u2019s office that filmed him had been tampered with. My office in the Department of Health was directly opposite his and I had a camera on my ceiling, too. Both cameras faced outwards, looking towards the balconies considered to be a security weak spot.<\/p>\n
The day after the story broke, I checked the camera in my office; it was still directly facing the balcony. Someone had rotated Matt\u2019s inwards.<\/p>\n
An inquiry found that the camera had been turned to face the door because it gave access to the roof. Only the door it was facing didn\u2019t have access to the roof: that was on the wall opposite to the one the camera was facing. It had been switched to catch him in flagrante.<\/p>\n
Recently, Matt had been at the front of the queue when Rishi had arrived at 10 Downing Street, about to step foot over the threshold as the new Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
Matt was standing in line as he walked down shaking everyone by the hand and, rudely, Rishi blanked him and purposefully walked past. That had been painful to watch.<\/p>\n
Someone had set Matt up. Steered him in front of the camera to be humiliated on live TV to millions.<\/p>\n
Matt has been described as many things. A Duracell bunny. An over-enthusiastic puppy dog. Industrious, ambitious, a narcissist. Whatever anyone thought of him, he worked the longest hours and he did so in his ruthlessly upbeat and optimistic way, with never a word of complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/20\/77408689-0-image-a-21_1699131442045.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Matt didn\u2019t get everything right, but he didn\u2019t deserve such childish rudeness from Rishi.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/20\/77408693-0-image-a-22_1699131449429.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Matt\u2019s career had ended in scandal, with that cringeworthy security footage of him kissing Gina<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t get everything right, but he didn\u2019t deserve such childish rudeness from Rishi.<\/p>\n
Not long afterwards, I went to talk to Boris. He hadn\u2019t seen Rishi blank Matt and, as he poured the coffee, I told him what had happened.<\/p>\n
\u2018That\u2019s a shame,\u2019 he said, \u2018but maybe it\u2019s not such a surprise. They hated Matt. Always briefing against him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Who?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n
\u2018Lee Cain, [Dominic] Cummings \u2013 I could never understand why. You know what my impression of Matt was: he had this incredible pachyderm quality. He took so many bullets, and they just flattened on his hide. Nothing stopped him.<\/p>\n
\u2018He was like a rhino, and look, I always liked him. He always wanted to be Chancellor, and maybe that was the origin of the briefings. Yes, it was always very clear, Matt\u2019s ambition was to be Chancellor; he couldn\u2019t hide it and they didn\u2019t like that.\u2019<\/p>\n
I was reminded of the secret dirty dossiers sent to journalists which had been circulated about various Ministers who became rising stars. Matt\u2019s career had ended in scandal, with that cringeworthy security footage of him kissing Gina. Whatever Matt thought of himself, he was never going to be Chancellor after that.<\/p>\n