INTELLIGENCE agencies should get involved in the investigation into the leak of CCTV footage from Matt Hancock’s office, a senior Tory MP has said.
Jeremy Hunt, former health secretary, said it was concerning that the video footage of Mr Hancock in a romantic embrace with an aide was recorded and leaked to the media, without Mr Hancock even knowing there was a camera in his office.
The CCTV camera is clearly visible from the roof of the office in Whitehall, close to the main door, however it is reported that the former health chief was unaware of its presence or that he was being recorded.
Labour has insisted the UK Government must now review Whitehall security entirely, and say it presents a risk to national security.
Mr Hunt has suggested that MI5 should be involved in a probe, which Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis confirmed was now being undertaken by the Department of Health.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, Mr Hunt said it was “completely unacceptable from a security point of view that ministers are being filmed inside their own offices without their knowledge” adding the issue would be something “our intelligence agencies will want to look at very, very carefully”.
He also suggested the person who leaked the material could have broken the Official Secrets Act by doing so, adding: “We have, rightly, in this country as a democracy and as an open society, protection for whistle-blowers who find things out and release them in the public interest, and we don’t want to undermine that.
“It’s a very important part of how we work. But I do think we need to understand how this happened and to make sure that ministers are secure in their offices to be able to have conversations that they know aren’t going to be leaked to hostile powers.”
