• But then Mr Hancock asks his adviser to clarify what exactly the rules were at the time of the photograph.
• The two of them then exchange plans for how they can respond to media coverage.
Image: TWITTER
Matt Hancock and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke Covid guidance when he kissed his aide, leaked messagesin the Telegraph show.
The WhatsApp messages were sent after The Sun newspaper published a photo of Mr Hancock kissing Gina Coladangelo.
His spokesman said there was "nothing new" in the messages and "absolutely no public interest" in publishing them.
"It's highly intrusive, completely inappropriate and has all been discussed endlessly before," he added.
The spokesman said the public coronavirus inquiry had been given access to all the messages.
The BBC has not seen or independently verified the messages nor the context in which they were sent.
When the photo was first published, the messages show Mr Hancock asked his special adviser at the time Damon Poole to "keep the focus" on Ms Coladangelo's appointment.
Ms Coladangelo worked as a paid adviser for the government, acting as a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care at the time.
The then health secretary also asks if another minister could emphasise that "no rules have been broken".
Mr Poole asks Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo to think "really hard" about whether they could have broken any Covid rules.
Referring to the social distancing rule to keep 1m apart from others when 2m was not possible,Mr Hancock says: "Other than obviously the 1m+ I honestly can't think of any."
He adds: "The worst they can do is 'kissed before they legalised hugs'."
But then Mr Hancock asks his adviser to clarify what exactly the rules were at the time of the photograph.
The two of them then exchange plans for how they can respond to media coverage.
This ranges from acknowledging he "breached the social distancing rules" - which Matt Hancock says he doesn't think he can do, adding, "I think I just went against the clinical advice" - to saying that "no rules were broken".
In one exchange, Matt Hancock cites social distancing guidance for workers at the time saying that workers should "maintain social distancing guidelines wherever possible", to which his adviser responds: "Yes, but it was possible. Clearly. From the picture."
And in a separate published exchange, Matt Hancock seeks the advice of the former chancellor George Osborne about a video statement he was due to put out announcing his resignation.
Mr Osborne says it is "good" but suggests he probably wants to "include the apology to your loved ones you have in the letter".
He eventually resigned over the matter, publishing a video on his Twitter page.
In a separate leaked conversation, Mr Hancock criticises Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme, dubbing it "eat out to help the virus get about".
The Treasury paid £840m to fund the scheme in August 2020, which offered 50% off food and drink as part of then-Chancellor Mr Sunak's economic recovery plan after the end of the first Covid lockdown.
In the WhatsApp message exchange from month of the launch, Mr Hancock said the scheme was"causing problems in our [intervention] areas" - areas that were under additional government restrictions because they had a higher number of Covid cases.
He later admits to using the scheme, and claims he was "thanked by the other diners".
The WhatsApp leaks
A collection of more than 100,000 messages sent between former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic have been obtained by the Telegraph.