They have been in hiding for months – but now disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and his lover Gina Coladangelo have finally made their social debut.
The pair surfaced at a glittering party for nearly 400 guests held in belated honour of Jeffrey Archer’s 80th birthday.
Onlookers said they looked blissfully in love at the ‘Cecil B. DeMille production’ at London’s opulent Banqueting House.
They have been in hiding for months – but now disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and his lover Gina Coladangelo have finally made their social debut
Hancock was made to resign in June after CCTV footage from the clinch was leaked.
A host of stars from showbiz and Tory greats were among the guests. One source said: ‘It was like a festival, or commemoration, of disgraced Ministers and a Who’s Who of the 1980s Tory Party.’ Meanwhile, actress Patricia Hodge sang the Marilyn Monroe classic Happy Birthday, Mr President to best-selling author Lord Archer.
Another guest added: ‘All eyes were on Matt and Gina, of course. This was their first big social event together. They couldn’t have chosen a better location or audience – almost everyone was a disgraced politician.’ Archer, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, was famously jailed in 2001 for perjury.
When Hancock was Minister for Social Distancing during the Pandemic, in June, Hancock was captured on CCTV kissing Gina, his Whitehall aide, at his Whitehall Office.
For violating his lockdown rules Gina was also forced to quit her position at the Department of Health.
Earlier this month, the Tory MP admitted in a television interview with Robert Peston that he had ‘blown up every part of my life’.
But as I revealed on these pages last week, he is less contrite when among friends, joking saucily to a pal that he is ‘into all things Italian these days’ – an apparent reference to Gina, who is half-Italian.
Guests at Lord Archer’s party were treated to champagne on arrival, followed by a fanfare played by trumpeters of the Royal Marines, after which they headed into dinner.
Lord Archer’s wife Mary recited a poem about the elements, and his grandchildren gave a speech.
Meanwhile, Hancock, left, enjoyed the limelight again last night, appearing on the red carpet at Capital Radio’s Jingle Bell Ball in London dressed in a trendy polo neck sweater and jeans.
But there no sign of Gina, prompting one observer to quip: ‘Perhaps she only emerges when the party is top secret.’