Quick answer: The Matt Hancock affair refers to the 2021 scandal in which UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock was caught on CCTV kissing his aide and close friend Gina Coladangelo inside his Whitehall office, in breach of the social distancing guidelines he had publicly championed. The images were published by The Sun on 25 June 2021. Hancock resigned the following day. Both Hancock and Coladangelo left their respective marriages and are now in a committed relationship.
Few political scandals in modern British history have combined personal betrayal, public hypocrisy, and genuine human drama quite like the Matt Hancock affair. At its surface, it was a story about a married health secretary caught kissing a married aide. But pull back the lens, and what emerges is far more layered — a tale of an Oxford friendship that never quite faded, a crisis-era appointment that raised serious questions about cronyism, a resignation that sparked national outrage, and an unlikely journey from Whitehall to the Australian jungle.
This is the complete story: who Matt Hancock is, how Gina Coladangelo fits into nearly three decades of his life, and what the scandal revealed about power, accountability, and the messiness of human relationships played out in the full glare of public scrutiny.
Biography Snapshot
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Matthew John David Hancock |
| Known As | Matt Hancock |
| Date of Birth | 2 October 1978 |
| Age | 47 |
| Birthplace | Chester, Cheshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Profession | Former politician, author, broadcaster |
| Years Active | 2005–present |
| Known For | UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (2018–2021); Matt Hancock affair; I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! (2022) |
| Relationship Status | In a relationship with Gina Coladangelo |
| Children | Three (one daughter, two sons, with ex-wife Martha Hoyer Millar) |
| Education | Exeter College, Oxford (PPE, 1995–1998) |
| Estimated Net Worth | ~£5 million (as estimated by The Sun, 2022) |
| Social Media | Instagram: @matthancockofficial (113K followers) |
Early Life and Background
Matthew John David Hancock was born on 2 October 1978 in Chester, Cheshire, to Michael Hancock and Shirley Hills. Raised in the north of England, he later went on to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics — the famously elite PPE course — at Exeter College, Oxford, from 1995 to 1998. It was a degree that would prove to be far more than an academic exercise. Oxford gave Hancock his career blueprint, his political network, and, crucially, his introduction to Gina Coladangelo.
Hancock has spoken publicly about living with dyslexia, and has been an advocate for greater awareness of the condition. Far from holding him back, it appears to have sharpened a determination that defined his career trajectory. After Oxford, he joined the Bank of England as an economist, specialising in the housing market — a grounding in data and policy that he would carry into politics.
The political pivot came in 2005, when Hancock joined the Conservative Party as chief of staff to George Osborne, then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was a formative relationship. Osborne was sharp, politically calculating, and media-savvy — qualities Hancock absorbed and later applied to his own brand-building as a digital-era politician. In January 2010, Hancock became the Conservative candidate for West Suffolk, and later that year, he was elected MP for the constituency, launching a parliamentary career that would span more than a decade.
The Breakthrough Moment: How the Matt Hancock Affair Came to Light
The Matt Hancock affair became public on 25 June 2021, when The Sun published security camera footage showing Hancock embracing and kissing Gina Coladangelo inside the Department of Health and Social Care’s London headquarters. The image, taken at around 3pm on 6 May 2021, showed the pair in what the newspaper described as a “steamy clinch” — at a time when two-metre social distancing rules were still in place in UK workplaces.
The public reaction was immediate and ferocious. For months, British people had followed Hancock’s daily press conferences, abiding by the rules his department had set — unable to hug elderly parents, attend funerals, or comfort dying relatives. The footage felt like a detonation. Here was the man who had asked the nation to sacrifice its most intimate human moments, caught doing precisely what he had told everyone else not to do.
Hancock initially refused to resign. But the pressure was overwhelming. On 26 June 2021 — one day after The Sun’s exposé — he submitted his letter of resignation, describing his time as health secretary as “the honour of my life” and apologising for breaking the guidelines. His former Oxford mentor George Osborne, by then editor of the Evening Standard, reportedly advised Hancock not to publicly reveal that he had fallen in love, and to apologise to his family instead. Hancock did not take that advice — at least not for long.
Coladangelo also resigned from her position on the DHSC’s board in the days that followed.
Career Evolution: From Bank of England to Health Secretary
Matt Hancock’s political ascent was methodical and deliberate. After entering Parliament in 2010, he climbed through a succession of junior ministerial roles — Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise (2013), Minister of State for Business and Enterprise (2014), Minister for Energy (2014), and Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (2015). Each role added another credential, another area of policy expertise.
His most visible pre-Health Secretary role came as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, a position he held from January 2018 to July 2018. It was during this time that Hancock cultivated his identity as a technology-forward, digitally literate politician — someone who understood that politics in the social media age required a different kind of communication. He even became the first MP to release his own mobile app, a move noted by his alma mater, Exeter College, Oxford.
In July 2018, he was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under Prime Minister Theresa May, retaining the role under Boris Johnson. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, Hancock became one of the most visible faces of the government’s response — fronting press conferences, managing vaccine rollout policy, and navigating a crisis unlike anything the NHS had faced in living memory.
He also made a brief tilt at the Conservative Party leadership in July 2019, announcing his candidacy with considerable fanfare. After finishing sixth in the first round of voting, he withdrew from the race. Boris Johnson became Prime Minister shortly after, and Hancock kept his job.
Most Iconic Works and Achievements
Matt Hancock’s record in office is genuinely contested — and that tension is central to understanding why the affair hit so hard.
On one side: Hancock oversaw the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, which by mid-2021 had become one of the fastest in the world. The rapid procurement of vaccines, and the logistical infrastructure that delivered them to millions of people, is widely considered a genuine public health achievement.
On the other: the WhatsApp messages. In early 2023, journalist Isabel Oakeshott — who had been given access to Hancock’s private messages while co-writing his Pandemic Diaries book — leaked more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages to the Daily Telegraph. The resulting series, known as “The Lockdown Files,” caused significant damage to Hancock’s reputation. The messages revealed unguarded moments of political calculation, concern about perception management, and communications that critics argued showed decision-making driven as much by optics as by public health.
Among the details that emerged: Hancock had set up a dedicated “Crisis Management” WhatsApp group with his communications aide Damon Poole and Gina Coladangelo — a detail that sharpened the image of Coladangelo as far more than a peripheral figure in Hancock’s professional life.
At the Covid Inquiry in 2023, Hancock gave evidence amid pointed criticism from other witnesses. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, accused Hancock of having “lied his way through” the pandemic. Lord Sedwill, the country’s most senior civil servant at the time, testified that he had wanted Hancock removed from his role to “save lives and protect the NHS.”
Personal Life and Public Persona: Two Marriages, Six Children, and a Jungle
The human story at the heart of the Matt Hancock affair involves two families dismantled under extraordinary public scrutiny.
Hancock had married Martha Hoyer Millar in 2006. An osteopath with a distinguished family background — she is the granddaughter of Frederick Millar, 1st Baron Inchyra, and the great-granddaughter of William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose — Martha was, by all accounts, deeply private. The couple shared three children. On the night The Sun’s story broke, Hancock reportedly told his wife he was leaving. His resignation letter made no direct apology to her.
Gina Coladangelo had married Oliver Tress, founder of the beloved British high street retailer Oliver Bonas, in 2009. They also had three children: Talia, Layla and Bruno. The relationship ended following the public exposure of the affair.
In February 2022, Hancock appeared on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast — his first significant public accounting of what had happened. His explanation was disarmingly direct. “I resigned because I broke the social distancing guidelines,” he said. “That happened because I fell in love with somebody.” He added that by the time the scandal broke, the guidelines were no longer legally enforceable rules — but acknowledged that the optics were indefensible.
The Diary of a CEO appearance was followed by a stint on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Channel 4), and then — most controversially — I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in November 2022. His appearance in the Australian jungle led to his immediate suspension as a Conservative MP, with party Chief Whip Simon Hart citing the decision as “a matter serious enough to warrant suspension of the whip with immediate effect.” The Prime Minister’s office added that MPs “should be working hard for their constituents.” Hancock spent 22 days in the jungle, finishing third — behind Hollyoaks actor Owen Warner and eventual winner, former England footballer Jill Scott.
Gina Coladangelo was waiting for him at the bridge when he left the camp. Hancock had spoken openly and warmly about her throughout the series — an unusual act of emotional transparency for a politician who had spent years in a world defined by studied messages.
Hidden Facts and Lesser-Known Insights
Several threads of the Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo story rarely receive the attention they deserve.
The Oxford connection is the foundation of everything. Hancock and Coladangelo met in 1995, both aged around 18, and spent three years studying PPE together, working side by side on student radio. It was during that same period that Hancock also met Martha Hoyer Millar — meaning that the woman he married and the woman he fell in love with nearly three decades later were part of the same university world.
Coladangelo was not a political insider when she entered the DHSC’s orbit. She was, by profession, a communications and marketing specialist — serving as communications director at Oliver Bonas, and as a director and major shareholder in Luther Pendragon, a prominent lobbying firm that, according to its own description, helps clients develop a “deep understanding of the mechanics of government.” The appointment of a personal friend with no public health background to an advisory role within the department drew immediate criticism, with some characterising it as cronyism. The Department of Health denied this.
The “Crisis Management” WhatsApp group — containing Hancock, Coladangelo, and communications aide Damon Poole — surfaced through Isabel Oakeshott’s leak to the Daily Telegraph and confirmed that Coladangelo was operating at the centre of Hancock’s communications strategy long before their relationship became public knowledge.
Perhaps the most humanising detail: on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Hancock reflected on the Oxford years, noting that he and Gina had “spent a lot of time together trying to get me to communicate in a more emotionally intelligent way.” He described knowing her for “more than half of my life.”
Net Worth and Business Influence
Matt Hancock’s estimated net worth sits at approximately £5 million, according to a 2022 estimate by The Sun — a significant increase from the £705,000–£2.1 million figure cited in 2020. His primary income for most of his adult life came from his MP’s salary, which stood at £91,346. He also claimed parliamentary expenses, though at reduced levels toward the end of his time in office.
His appearance on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in 2022 was widely reported to have netted him a fee of at least £350,000, according to PR expert Mark Borkowski, who was quoted by The Sun at the time. Other TV appearances — Celebrity SAS, Peston on ITV, and the Diary of a CEO — added further profile if not all the same fee levels.
Coladangelo’s financial position is independently substantial. Her role at Luther Pendragon involved a significant shareholding in the firm. In March 2023, she sold the family home she had shared with Oliver Tress for £7.5 million — the buyer being chef Gordon Ramsay.
Fashion, Influence and Cultural Impact
The Matt Hancock affair did not simply mark the end of a political career. It landed in a specific cultural moment — mid-pandemic Britain — and the reverberations were profound.
The image of the CCTV kiss, published by The Sun, became one of the defining photographs of the pandemic era in Britain. Not because it was dramatic in the conventional sense, but because of what it symbolised. Millions of people had grieved alone, held funerals via Zoom, and been unable to hold the hands of dying relatives. The sight of the Health Secretary in a physical embrace in the same weeks those rules were in force carried a weight that went far beyond tabloid prurience.
Hancock’s decision to take part in I’m A Celebrity was, in its own way, a cultural moment too — and a polarising one. Critics saw it as an attempt to rehabilitate himself through entertainment. Supporters — and he had them — argued he was the most watchable campmate in years: self-aware, emotionally open, and genuinely compelling television. Whether it worked as political rehabilitation is debatable. As a career pivot, it was extraordinary.
Social Media Presence
Matt Hancock maintains an active presence on Instagram under the handle @matthancockofficial, where he has accumulated more than 113,000 followers. His posts range from personal moments — including a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show with Gina — to political commentary and advocacy. He has used social media strategically throughout his career, having been the first MP to launch a dedicated app for constituents back in 2018.
Gina Coladangelo maintains a considerably lower profile online, consistent with her more private public persona.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Matt Hancock affair?
The Matt Hancock affair refers to the 2021 scandal in which UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock was photographed on CCTV kissing his aide Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office. The images, published by The Sun on 25 June 2021, showed Hancock breaching his own COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. He resigned the following day. Both Hancock and Coladangelo subsequently left their marriages and are now in a relationship.
Who is Gina Coladangelo and what was her role at the DHSC?
Gina Coladangelo is a communications and marketing executive, born in August 1977. She is the former communications director of Oliver Bonas and a director and major shareholder of lobbying firm Luther Pendragon. In March 2020, she was appointed as an unpaid adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on a six-month contract — an appointment that carried no public record. She was later made a paid non-executive director of the DHSC’s board at a salary of £15,000 per year for two to three days of work per month. She resigned from the role after the affair became public.
Why did Matt Hancock resign?
Matt Hancock resigned as Health Secretary on 26 June 2021, one day after The Sun published CCTV footage of him kissing Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office. The images showed Hancock breaching the social distancing guidelines that his own department had introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. After initially refusing to step down, he submitted his resignation letter on 26 June, calling the role “the honour of my life” and apologising for breaking the guidelines.
How did Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo first meet?
Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo first met at Oxford University in 1995, where both studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Exeter College. They worked together on the university’s student radio station during the same years — 1995 to 1998. Hancock has said he has known Coladangelo for “more than half of his life.” Despite their careers taking very different paths after graduation, they are believed to have remained friends across the intervening decades.
What happened to Matt Hancock after his resignation?
Following his resignation in June 2021, Matt Hancock separated from his wife of 15 years, Martha Hoyer Millar, with whom he has three children. He published the Pandemic Diaries book, appeared on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast in February 2022, and took part in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins on Channel 4. In November 2022, his appearance on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! — where he finished third — led to his suspension from the Conservative Party. He subsequently sat as an independent MP. He did not stand at the next general election and left Parliament in 2024.
The Story That Refuses to Stay Still
What makes the Matt Hancock affair so enduring as a story is that it refuses to resolve into a simple moral. There is genuine public interest in the accountability questions — around the DHSC appointment, the WhatsApp leaks, and the management of the pandemic. But there is also a more human story, one of two people who had known each other for nearly three decades, finding something in each other during the most extraordinary professional period of both their lives.
Hancock has never denied what he did. “I fell in love,” he said, on podcast and on television, in a jungle and in a studio. It is, as explanations go, both profoundly ordinary and entirely inadequate — depending on what question you’re answering.
The scandal reshaped British political culture in a small but meaningful way. It reinforced the fragility of public trust, the totemic power of rule-breaking by rule-makers, and the speed with which a political career can unravel. It also produced, unexpectedly, one of the more compelling personal stories of the post-pandemic era: two Oxford friends, reunited under the worst possible circumstances, navigating six children and the full weight of national scorn, apparently still standing.
Whether you find that romantic, maddening, or somewhere in between probably says as much about you as it does about them.
Emma Clarke is a content writer at Gaukurinn.is, specializing in celebrity news, pop culture, movies, and music. With a strong focus on accuracy and trending topics, she creates engaging and well-researched articles that keep readers informed and entertained.
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