Despite Matt Hancock seeking to draw a line under public scrutiny of his affair with friend and adviser Gina Coladangelo by quitting as health secretary, many questions about the pair’s relationship remain unanswered. These are some of the unknowns that MPs will probably be putting to Boris Johnson, who initially stood by Hancock, and the man promoted back into the cabinet to replace him, Sajid Javid, next week.
How did Coladangelo gain a parliamentary pass? A Tory health minister, Lord Bethell, was listed as Coladangelo’s sponsor for a parliamentary pass, which will have granted her access to the Westminster estate – letting her bring in guests, mingle with MPs and use the bars and restaurants. Such passes can only be given to those who “genuinely and personally provide parliamentary secretarial or research assistance to the sponsoring member”. But the Sunday Times said Coladangelo had never worked for Bethell. Labour has written to the Lords commissioner for standards, who arbitrates on alleged breaches of the members’ code of conduct. MP Anneliese Dodds, Labour chair, said the Conservatives had “serious questions to answer about how Gina Coladangelo gained the right to enter parliament unchecked”. She added: “We need to know why was she sponsored by one of Matt Hancock’s chums in the Lords and what work she did for him.” What did Coladangelo do? Coladangelo was then appointed as a nonexecutive director to the board of Hancock’s department. This role came with some significant responsibilities. According to the department’s website, the board “supports and advises ministers and the department on strategic issues … horizon scans for emerging issues … sets the overall strategic direction for the department … oversees and monitors performance”. In effect, the board appears to have an important oversight responsibility. But few details are known about what the 43-year-old former communications director did to earn her £15,000 taxpayer-funded salary.
Other people on the board include Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and senior DHSC civil servants, as well as a government adviser on the union, Doug Gurr. However, there is also speculation that Coladangelo had a closer relationship with Hancock and advised him on press relations, having been seen accompanying him to the BBC and the G7. MPs will want further details about exactly how much Coladangelo had been advising Hancock, and on what issues. Peter Riddell, the commissioner for public appointments, said recently that such roles were “not regulated at all” and take place more and more “without competition and without any form of regulatory oversight”. How was Coladangelo’s appointment made? Given the pair’s romance was secret until a few days ago, concerns have been raised about whether it was proper for Coladangelo to be handed a taxpayer-funded job advising the man it was later discovered she was having an affair with. The government has not said if their relationship began before or after Coladangelo’s appointment or if this was declared as a potential conflict of interest at any point – but Downing Street insisted the correct procedures had been followed. That suggests that Hancock did not declare any relationship prior to the appointment being made – but it does not explain whether the former secretary of state declared it once the affair began. On Friday, Hancock was determined to stay in post – and neither he nor Coladangelo quit their respective posts until Saturday evening. Alex Runswick, senior advocacy manager at Transparency International UK, has suggested the process for installing nonexecutive directors in Whitehall “should be regulated to ensure any conflicts of interest are properly managed and to provide public confidence in the probity of these appointments”. Did Coladangelo have any other influence across government? Labour has been keen to paint any alleged impropriety as further evidence of a more deep-seated “chumocracy”. Government figures have also admitted privately that Hancock’s personal standing was tarnished by a number of controversial links between him and businesses handed Covid contracts. Hancock was found to have breached the ministerial code by failing to declare a stake in a family company that won an NHS contract. Partnering Health Limited (PHL), of which Coladangelo’s brother Roberto is a director, won a £28m NHS contract. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing and PHL said it had only ever secured contracts through “the robust tender and procurement processes put in place by local clinical commissioning groups” – not through the DHSC.