that is the chair of the labour party explaining why she thinks that this is not over and why they want matt hancock to resign and i think they are clearly going to be keeping up they are clearly going to be keeping up the pressure on matt hancock, or trying to over the weekend. that up the pressure on matt hancock, or trying to over the weekend.- trying to over the weekend. that is an obvious trying to over the weekend. that is an obvious claim trying to over the weekend. that is an obvious claim from trying to over the weekend. that is an obvious claim from labour, - trying to over the weekend. that is | an obvious claim from labour, they want matt hancock to go. i m keen to get the moved amongst the conservative party, we had from the premier and minister s it spokesman, but what about the rest of the party? but what about the rest of the .a ? ., ., ., ., ., , but what about the rest of the party? hard to gauge what tory mps are feelin: party? hard to gauge what tory mps are f
the prime minister has accepted the health secretary s apology and considers the matter closed. in a statement, the health secretary said. let s get more from our political correspondent, ben wright. despite what the prime minister says, this isn t really closed, is it? no, and labour will keep up the pressure, they feel there are more questions to answer, not least over at how the aide, who matt hancock is photographed basing on the front page of the son in his department backin page of the son in his department back in may, how she was appointed in the first place as an unpaid adviser and then appointed to the board that oversees the work of the department is an executive director. the two are old friends, go back more than 20 years, known each other very well. labour think they could
beissues very well. labour think they could be issues here about conflict of interest and transparency that the government still need to answer. and we have seen the pictures today in the sun, there could be more. i think the feeling is that matt hancock and number ten want to treat this as a personal issue which needs to be dealt with privately between him and his family and that is where it ends, but i imagine that as far as the newspapers are concerned, it does not end there, even though, and it is very important, number ten, as you say, considered the matter closed and the prime minister has given matt hancock his backing today. of course we have been through a period where grandparents haven t been able to hug their grandchildren. i ve just come off a call right now with some of my local nurses, who have been following the rules to the letter, who are really struggling, currently, to deal with the impact of covid still. i honestly think that now is the time when the prime minister
this is bbc news, i m ben mundy. the headlines: the health secretary apologises and admits breaching social distancing guidelines, after being caught on camera in an embrace with a close aide. labour say he should be sacked. now is the time when the prime minister needs to get a grip on this situation. he simply has not done so until now. he needs to act. in the past half hour downing street said the prime minister had accepted mr hancock s apology and considered the matter closed. our other top stories this afternoon: there s a surge in bookings to destinations including the balearic islands and malta, after they were moved onto the travel green list. four people have died after a block of flats collapsed in miami. a british woman is among over 150 people still missing. we are going to work as hard as we
and the lib dems urging the prime minister to sack matt hancock over this, how does that translate to those voters? it is just westminster noise to many of them? or is it loud enough to resonate with voters? resonate, cut through, howeveryou want to characterise it, that can take many different forms. people outside the westminster bubble may be aware of a story, they may think negatively about it, but will it necessarily connect with them at an emotional level? possibly not. will it bring about a change in their behaviour, change their vote? it bring about a change in their behaviour, change theirvote? i think it is unlikely. will that change stick longer term? i think at the moment it is very unlikely that will be the case and so for many people, this will be seen as a negative, they were not like what has happened, they will not approve of it matt hancock s behaviour, they may even believe he should resign and be replaced, but will that have and be replaced, but will that have a lon