The footage of Mr Hancock kissing Gina Coladangelo was caught on a CCTV camera in his office on May 6, and secretly recorded by a member of his department’s staff.
After allowing a month to elapse, the whistleblower approached lockdown sceptics and asked them to help sell the incendiary footage to the media.
Throughout the pandemic, Mr Hancock has been a leading lockdown ‘dove’, arguing that the ultimate priority of government policy should be protecting the NHS against being overwhelmed. His critics have argued that the cost of the measures has been too high.
When the images detonated on The Sun’s front page on Friday, Mr
Hancock’s allies speculated that he had been the victim of a ‘hit’ by No
10, or even a foreign power such as China.