CCTV camera that caught UK health minister affair removed

June 28, 2021 22:10

UK minister Matt Hancock

The mysterious CCTV camera inside a United Kingdom government departmental office which caught Matt Hancock's affair with a close female aide and forced him to step down as health minister has been removed, his successor Sajid Javid said on Monday.

The new Health Secretary was asked about the device even as Cabinet ministers ordered a sweep of their departmental offices for hidden cameras.

The government had confirmed on Sunday that it will investigate how the camera came to be placed inside Hancock's office smoke alarm and also how the footage was leaked in an apparent security breach.

"I haven't disabled the camera that you are talking about, but it has been disabled by the department," Javid told reporters, as he began his new job at the Department of Health and Social Care.

"I think for security it is just common sense. I don't think, as a general rule, there should be cameras in the secretary of state's office. I've never known that in the other five departments that I've run and I am not really sure why there was one here. But I am sure there will be more to this as the whole incident is investigated," said the Pakistani-origin politician who has previously held UK Cabinet posts as Home Secretary and Chancellor.

Earlier, UK Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told Sky News he had asked for his office to be swept for "unauthorised devices" because ministers should have a "safe space" to work.

"I know there is CCTV in the building for obvious security reasons, but I am sure that many of my colleagues will be asking the same question and making sure that the offices are swept just in case there are unauthorised devices in there that could be a national security breach," the minister said.

The government is also set to be questioned further about "security arrangements relating to ministerial offices and communications" in the House of Commons.

It comes as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to face questions over his refusal to remove Hancock, who admitted breaching COVID-19 social distancing rules by kissing a colleague outside his household bubble in early May. Johnson had initially accepted Hancock's apology and said he considered the matter closed.

"I read the story on Friday and we've got a new health secretary in post on Saturday, and I think that's about the right pace to proceed in a pandemic," said Johnson when pressed over the issue on Monday.

The Opposition Labour Party has insisted that Hancock should have been sacked immediately after the images of the minister in a compromising position with colleague Gina Coladangelo were published in The Sun newspaper on Friday.

The publication caused a storm within Hancock's own Conservative party, resulting in his Cabinet exit on Saturday.

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