Matt Hancock is facing yet more serious allegations after he was accused of using a private email account to conduct government business.
The disgraced health secretary could be investigated over whether he used his own personal account to negotiate contracts and communicate with officials during the pandemic.
Using a Gmail account rather than a designated government address makes communications less accessible to officials within his own department and members of the public submitting Freedom of Information requests.
It could mean crucial emails, potentially including ones where the awarding of lucrative PPE contracts were discussed, may never see the light of day.
Labour have called on the Information Commissioner to investigate why Mr Hancock had a ‘secret’ email inbox.
The beleaguered minister resigned on Saturday following damaging revelations about an affair he conducted with a colleague in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.
Mr Hancock was captured on CCTV kissing Gina Coladangelo, an old university friend he hired as an advisor and appointed to a £15,000 a year role within his own department.
The father-of-three reportedly left his wife Martha – who he has been married to for 15 years – after finding out the relationship was set to be uncovered by The Sun.
But his apologetic resignation is unlikely to dampen calls for a series of investigations into his conduct, including over the new email allegation.
According to leaked minutes obtained by The Sunday Times, David Williams, the second most senior official in the health department, warned Mr Hancock ‘only’ deals with his private office ‘via Gmail account’.
The documents suggest he didn’t have an official address and concluded anyone trying to access information would find the ‘threshold for requesting this personal account would need to be substantial’.
Junior minister Lord Bethell acted similarly, according to the Sunday Times, with officials warning he ‘routinely uses his personal inbox and the majority of [approvals for contracts] would have been initiated from this inbox’.
The matter was discussed by his own senior officials after Mr Hancock came under scrutiny over how PPE contracts were negotiated at a time the NHS and social services were facing shortages.
A meeting was held to discuss how to respond to a legal challenge from activists at the Good Law Project over the health secretary’s decision to award a contract worth up to £75 million to a firm linked to Sir John Bell, the paper reports.
In the minutes, Williams reportedly wrote that while he ‘doesn’t believe there was inappropriate acts on behalf of ministers’ he concluded that he ‘can clearly see the optics suggest otherwise’.
Mr Hancock’s conduct was already under intense scrutiny following damaging accusations from the Prime Minister’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings.
In one leaked message, the PM appeared to call Mr Hancock ‘totally f****g hopeless’.
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