Matt Hancock is being a 'complete a***hole' to his long Covid-hit wife who is at 'breaking point' over his affair, friend reveals (but she WAS cheered up by Sarah Vine's column about his 'throbbing ego')

Matt Hancock is pushing his 'shattered' long-Covid hit wife to 'breaking point' with his list of break-up demands, friends of the couple have today claimed.

They say the former Health Secretary is being a 'complete a******'  to wife Martha who has been left feeling 'very low' in the wake of her husband's affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.

The Tory MP, 43, was earlier this week spotted on a romantic Alpine break with his new lover.

Meanwhile, friends of the couple say Martha, 44, has been at the family home 'desperately trying to keep it together' for their three children.

However, she has been 'cheered up' today by the words of columnist Sarah Vine, according to friends.

Ms Vine, who is going through a split with Mr Hancock's Conservative colleague Michael Gove, wrote in her Mail on Sunday column today that she was 'hugely grateful' not to be married to Mr Hancock. 

And friends say the column struck a chord with Martha, who is said to have particularly enjoyed Ms Vine's jibe about his 'throbbing ego'.

One friend told MailOnline: ‘The suggestion Martha is "getting on with life" is so far from the truth - in fact she has long Covid and is absolutely shattered.

Matt Hancock   is pushing his 'shattered' long-Covid hit wife to 'breaking point' with his list of break-up demands, friends of the couple have today claimed

They say the former Health Secretary is being a 'complete a******e' to wife Martha who has been left feeling 'very low' in the wake of her husband's affair with aide Gina Coladangelo

However, Martha been 'cheered up' today by the words of columnist Sarah Vine , according to friends

'Matt is being a complete a******* to her, issuing demands while poor Martha is at breaking point, but trying desperately to keep it all together for the kids, one of whom had to start school last week.

'Her family are rallying round her but she is very low after an awful few months, and worried about her children.'

The friend added: 'The only thing that's cheered her up a bit was Sarah Vine's article about being glad she wasn't married to Matt - everyone was roaring with laughter at the "throbbing ego" bit.’  

It comes as another friend of Matt and Martha Hancock described the former Health Secretary as 'despicable' over the way he ended his marriage which left his wife 'crushed'. 

Mr Hancock is said to be plotting a political comeback despite being forced to quit cabinet over his infidelity. 

The Tory MP was exposed in June kissing Ms Coladangelo, who he had appointed as an adviser, in his private office, breaching the social distancing guidelines that he had established. 

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, pictured centre, was photographed alongside his lover Gina Goladangelo, left, earlier this week in the Swiss Alps

Mr Hancock's wife Martha, pictured, was in London and was responsible for the school run

Mr Hancock was forced to resign for breaching social distancing guidelines after he was shown in CCTV footage kissing his aide Gina Coladangelo inside his ministerial office 

The family friend told The Telegraph: 'Martha has been crushed by this, and Matt is only interested in his career and his mistress. He is a despicable individual.

'He has shown no concern for Martha or the children. He has been uncaring to Martha even though she backed him throughout his career and introduced him to the people that made his career. She has always defended him throughout.' 

Mr Hancock tried to ride out the political storm over his flagrant breaches of Covid-19 regulations and his marital infidelity but was eventually sacked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

He was replaced as Health Secretary by former Chancellor Sajid Javid. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to conduct a reshuffle of his cabinet and Mr Hancock is hoping for a return to the front line like Mr Javid who resigned over a row with the PM's then chief adviser Dominic Cummings. 

The family friend continued: 'Matt Hancock is a horrible individual. He is definitely not a gentleman. He keeps trying to suggest that all is fine when everyone has been left shattered by this. He has been horrible to Martha and has not at any point apologised to her or the rest of the family for what he has done.'

Mr Hancock and his wife Martha met at Oxford and were married in 2006. Ms Colandangelo, a mother of three, is married to Oliver Tress, owner of the eponymous high street chain.   

The Sun published CCTV footage from inside Mr Hancock's private office showing the then Health Secretary in an illicit clinch with his adviser, who he has known since university.  

Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo were photographed at a £87-a-night in Villars-sur-Ollon, near Montreux, Switzerland. 

The pair, who have continued dating since their affair was exposed, have been staying at The Villars Mountain Lodge, described on the hotel's website as 'resolutely modern and at the same time delightfully authentic'.

The couple, who have continues dating since their affair was exposed, appeared in high spirits and they head out for dinner with friends 

Matt Hancock donned a baseball cap, sunglasses and a jumper while Miss Coladangelo dressed casually in a denim jacket

Boasting hot showers, a bar and diner, 'cozy beds, ultra-soft pillows and soundproof rooms', the hotel is around a 90 minute drive from the city of Geneva and provides views of the famous Mont Blanc.

Known for skiing and its eye-wateringly expensive boarding schools, the village is also part of the wider resort of Villars - a favourite with royalty and celebrities.

This week's pictures showed Mr Hancock wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a face mask while Ms Coladangelo dressed casually in a denim jacket and black dress as the pair head out for dinner with friends.

As the pair continued to enjoy their break away, Mr Hancock's wife Martha, 44, who met the former health secretary when they were both students at Oxford University, was spotted in north London earlier today during the school run.

The £87-a-night resort is tucked away in the mountains in situated in the village of Villars-sur-Ollon in the Swiss Alps

Mr Hancock and his girlfriend checked into  the Mountain Villars Lodge under assumed names and had to enter their  accommodation with a digital key door

It is understood Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo drove to the resort from the UK for what is thought to be their first holiday abroad together since their relationship was revealed in June, The Daily Express reports.

It was Mr Hancock's second holiday in as many weeks after he was spotted hitting the surf in Cornwall with his children last month. 

The Hancocks, who married in 2006, had lived with their daughter, 14, and two sons, 13 and eight, in London and West Suffolk, until earlier this year when Mr Hancock's affair was exposed. 

After the footage emerged, Mr Hancock confirmed his resignation and said he wanted to 'reiterate his apology for breaking the guidance'.

He said: 'The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.

'I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need be with my children at this time.'

Matt Hancock was spotted on holiday with his family in Cornwall last month after his affair with Gina Colangelo was exposed 

And a letter issued to the public read: 'I am writing to resign as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

'We have worked so hard as a country to fight the pandemic. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.' 

SARAH VINE: I thank my lucky stars I wasn't married to Hancock

By Sarah Vine for the Mail on Sunday 

My ex and I have our differences, but for one thing I am hugely grateful: he is not Matt Hancock. 

However painful and complicated the unravelling of our marriage may be, he has at every turn behaved like a perfect gentleman. Which, it seems, is more than can be said of the former Health Secretary.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph newspaper, a friend of his wife Martha said: 'Matt Hancock is definitely not a gentleman. He keeps trying to suggest that all is fine when everyone has been left shattered by this.

'He has been horrible to Martha and has not at any point apologised to her or the rest of the family for what he has done.'

My ex and I have our differences, but for one thing I am hugely grateful: he is not Matt Hancock (pictured with Gina Coladangelo)

The friend added: 'Martha has been crushed by this. And Matt is only interested in his career and his mistress. He is a despicable individual. He has shown no concern for Martha or for the children.'

Given the latest pictures of Hancock and his new love, Gina Coladangelo, on holiday together in Switzerland, it seems hard to argue otherwise. 

The pair have clearly failed to keep a low profile for the sake of Martha (who is suffering from long Covid, no doubt exacerbated by the stress of recent months) and their children.

It is, as so often with politicians, all about him. In some ways, it's the nature of the beast. It takes unshakable self-belief to be a success in high-level politics, and even when he was a pipsqueak nobody, it was clear that Hancock had the bearing and confidence of a Panzer.

He was just as terrifying too, perfectly willing to switch allegiances in the blink of an eye depending on which way the political winds were blowing.

He climbed over the bodies of a fair few former friends and supporters to get to the top, always convincing himself that he was doing it for the right reasons – even when it was crystal clear to anyone with half a brain that he really wasn't.

That element of self-delusion is, I find, often key to the behaviour of men like Hancock, who somehow manage to convince themselves that what they are doing is perfectly acceptable – even though it is anything but.

I'm sure it's what's allowed him to justify the sacrifice of his family and that of Coladangelo's in pursuit of the couple's desires, to try to frame the relationship as love's young dream rather than a bog-standard workplace affair, the kind of thing powerful men have indulged in since time immemorial. 

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph newspaper, a friend of his wife Martha said: 'Matt Hancock is definitely not a gentleman'

Even if that were the case, even if he and Coladangelo were soulmates, it's not something you say in public, not when your jilted wife is still reeling from the shock, not when your children have only just found out. 

Why? Because it hurts. Hurts her to know that he's never been happier; hurts the kids to know that their happiness is secondary to someone else's.

But Matt can't see that because he can't see past the end of his own throbbing ego. Which is why I'm absolutely certain that, as unlikely as it might seem to all sane, ordinary people, Hancock firmly believes he can still 'have it all' – and make a swift return to frontline politics.

The notion that a) the country can survive without his brilliance, and b) he might want to keep his head down for a bit, will not have crossed his mind for the simple reason that such a realisation would require a scintilla of self-knowledge, and this is not something he possesses. 

And perhaps he's right. Maybe the general public really don't care about the rank hypocrisy of a man who puts a country into lockdown and lectures its citizens about who they can and cannot have sex with – while exempting himself from his own rules by snogging an employee.

Maybe they don't mind about someone who casts himself as a family man while simultaneously pursuing a course of action that's guaranteed to cause pain to those closest to him.

Maybe they're OK about a man who rouses his eight-year-old from slumber to tell him he's leaving his mother before fleeing ahead of the story breaking.

Can you imagine the trauma something like that must cause a child?

Who knows? But if I were Boris, I would steer well clear.

And as for Martha, I really hope she isn't crushed by this. Because at the end of the day, trust me: No one is looking at Matt and thinking: 'Great guy, I wish I were married to him.'