Matt Hancock may yet be forced out by the pressure exerted by the media. It is notable that such a pillar of the establishment as BBC News has made the revelation of his long-standing extra-marital relationship a leading item on its bulletins. However, by a strict interpretation of the ministerial code, the prime minister should have sacked him a long time ago. The trouble is that the code has no legal status and such power as it has rests in the hands of the prime minister.
In the foreword to the latest (2019) revision of the code, the present incumbent of that post has written:
we must uphold the very highest standards of propriety – and this code sets out how we must do so. There must be no bullying and no harassment; no leaking; no breach of collective responsibility. No misuse of taxpayer money and no actual or perceived conflicts of interest. The precious principles of public life enshrined in this document – integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership in the public interest – must be honoured at all times; as must the political impartiality of our much admired civil service.
PM Johnson's own personal conduct in office has strayed from those stated ideals, but that is the subject for another post. Hancock has clearly misused public money in awarding contracts during the Covid-19 emergency, lied about his department's preparedness and at the very least allowed a perception of a conflict of interest in appointing Ms Coladangelo to a position within the Department of Health - bypassing Special Adviser procedures, in itself a failure to act transparently.
One contrasts the Teflon-coating of several current ministers, whose only qualification seems to be a devotion to Brexit, with the treatment of David Laws, a financial expert in the Treasury under the first coalition government, whose only "crime" was to have a personal relationship with his landlord. No public money was wasted and no preferment for public office was involved. Unfortunately, Laws was a Liberal Democrat and knew his subject so had to go.
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