No 10 admits Matt Hancock did use private email for official work and refuses to say if rules were broken

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Matt Hancock and his deputy did use private emails for official work, No 10 has admitted – while refusing to say if they complied with government rules. The controversy has blown up because leaked minutes showed a top health department civil servant warned Mr Hancock “only” deals with his private office “via Gmail account” – and, extraordinarily, that he “does not have” an official email inbox. Mr Hancock quit on Saturday for breaking Covid rules by embracing his lover in his office, but Lord Bethell remains in his post – despite Labour calls for him to be dismissed, In the Lords, the peer also ducked questions when challenged, saying: “I have read the ministerial code, I signed the ministerial code and I seek to uphold it in everything I do.” Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “Lord Bethell used his private email account to sign off contracts and the government tried to cover it up. Ministers are able to communicate in a variety of different ways as long as they adhere to the guidance as set out.” But, asked if Mr Hancock and Lord Bethell had copied information to official accounts, he replied: “What I am saying is that ministers are aware of the guidance and government business is conducted in line with that guidance.”