Boris Johnson may be backing Matt Hancock, but it is clear the health secretary has to go

The prime minister considers the “matter” closed. The public may not agree that the “matter” of Matt Hancock’s hypocritical behaviour should have a line drawn under it after the health secretary’s minimalist apology for his own behaviour.

As has been excruciatingly obvious ever since the story broke, Mr Hancock has condemned in the strongest terms various others caught in similar flagrant defiance of the laws and guidelines around Covid-19, not least Professor Neil Ferguson, and a couple out for a walk and a coffee in the Peak District last year.

The “clinch” with Gina Coladangelo was plainly in breach of the guidelines, potentially in contravention of the law as it applied when the incident occurred – although the government believes not – and set a poor example for the general public. Like Dominic Cummings’s ill-starred road trip to County Durham last year, it gives the distinct impression that it is one rule for those in power and another for everyone else.

That is a deeply unattractive attitude, and one that erodes the authority of the government as it moves into another difficult phase in managing the Covid crisis. Mr Hancock has often reminded the public in the past that every time someone tries to flex the rules, lives are put in jeopardy – “that could be fatal”. He stressed the importance of following the rules. Why did he think that he was an exception to them? His allies brief that Mr Hancock was “in a work context”; it is a plea that goes beyond satire.

No less corrosive are the revelations about the appointment of Ms Coladangelo – who has known Mr Hancock since they were at university together – which emerged last year and have now acquired a new piquancy.

Even for a government with shamelessness as a central theme, Mr Hancock’s position is untenable. Thanks to Mr Cummings, we know that neither the prime minister nor the chief executive of the NHS, Sir Simon Stevens, appeared to have confidence in Mr Hancock, labelling him “hopeless”.

As it happens, Mr Hancock shouldn’t be treated as a scapegoat for the failures of the government as a whole and especially not blunders made in Downing Street; but he has to take responsibility for his share of what went wrong in dealing with the pandemic.

As things stand Mr Hancock is a lame duck minister, distracted by his personal problems and the unwanted media attention. He is a net drag on winning the fight against Covid-19, despite his hard work. He knows he should go.