After the Sun newspaper published images from Matt Hancock in a romantic embrace with a colleague that led to his resignation, questions have been raised about the issue of privacy and press intrusion. The argument for the story being in the public interest is based on the fact that the alleged affair took place on government property during working hours when Mr Hancock should have been 100% focused on leading the response to a global health crisis. Alongside this is the question about why taxpayers money was spent on the appointment of Gina Coladangelo to the Department of Health’s oversight board. These are issues the public clearly have a right to know. However, The Guardian reveals Ministers should not have cameras in their offices.
Alongside the news of the alleged affair, several news outlets, including The Guardian, are reporting Mr Hancock faces additional scrutiny for using private emails that bypassed disclosure rules when doing government business.
UPDATE: 300621
- Holyrood reports that the ICO is looking carefully at the alleged use of Gmail for government business.
- Mischon de Reya discusses the security and legal risks from using personal email accounts
UPDATE: 010721
- Evening Standard publishes an article about the auto-deleting messaging app Signal that ministers are accused of downloading
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