Matt Hancock and the government are still facing questions following his resignation as health secretary over an affair with his aide Gina Coladangelo.
Mr Hancock quit on Saturday after the couple were caught on camera kissing in his Whitehall office, breaking social distancing guidelines.
It is understood that the father of three has left his wife of 15 years, Martha, while his relationship with Ms Coladangelo is described as “serious”.
Mr Hancock was replaced as health secretary by former Chancellor Sajid Javid, but his actions and those of the government are continuing to come under scrutiny.
1) Was Gina Coladangelo’s appointment above board?
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has said that “if there was any connection or conflict” when Ms Coladangelo was appointed as a non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last September, “it should have been declared”.
Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo, a former lobbyist, have been friends since they worked together on a student radio station while at Oxford University.
Mr Buckland told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t know when this particular relationship began, but I expect those looking at the process would indeed ask those questions to make sure that this appointment, like thousands made every year, would stand up to scrutiny.”
There had to be vetting before such appointments, Mr Buckland said.
Mr Hancock took on Ms Coladangelo as an aide in March last year. She moved on to the DHSC director role – which paid £15,000 a year for 15 to 20 days’ work a year – six months later.
A government spokesman has said the appointment was “made in the usual way” and “followed correct procedure”.
2) Did Hancock break email rules?
The Sunday Times reported that that Mr Hancock had potentially breached guidelines by using his personal email account for government business.
In a letter to the cabinet secretary, the UK’s top civil servant, and the Information Commissioner, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner demanded a “full-scale investigation” into whether private emails had been used to discuss government contracts, and if their use might have potentially broken the law.
“We need to know how wide this goes and how much government business is being conducted in secret,” she said.
Official guidelines state that where government business is conducted using private email addresses, steps should be taken “to ensure the relevant information is accessible”.
They say a copy should be sent to a departmental email address for record-keeping purposes, but also so it can be requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
3) Why did Colagangelo get a parliamentary pass?
Labour also queried why Ms Coladangelo – who has now quit her DHSC role – obtained a parliamentary pass.
This was sponsored last year by junior health minister Lord Bethell, the Times reports. It adds that Ms Coladangelo is understood never to have worked for Lord Bethell.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there were still “huge questions still to answer”.
4) Why is Hancock entitled to severance pay?
It has been reported that Mr Hancock will not claim the £16,000 payment he is entitled to on leaving office.
But Labour is questioning why such an award should be on offer in the first place and demanding that Mr Hancock be banned from receiving it.
5) How did the CCTV footage get out?
It is not known how the footage of Mr Hancock kissing Ms Coladangelo – a married mother of three – was obtained.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Buckland said he believed “all colleagues in government” would now be asking officials to “make sure their offices are as safe as possible” from “unauthorised surveillance”.
It was not the role of CCTV to “snoop” on ministers, he said, calling it a “a worry” because footage and material could end up in the “wrong hands, with states that wish us ill or wish the United Kingdom ill”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said there appeared to have been a “serious security breach” and that the government had to “sort itself out”.
Mr Javid will address the House of Commons later on Monday on whether existing Covid measures in England are to be eased on 19 July.
After Mr Hancock resigned, he said, referring to his breaching of social distancing guidelines, that “those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them”.