* Andrew Bridgen says Matt Hancock's position was 'untenable'

• North West Leicestershire MP believes ex-Health Secretary was viewed as a hypocrite

• Mr Bridgen says Mr Hancock did not have many friends after scandal was revealed

• He admits his disagreed with the attitude shown towards North West Leicestershire public

• Adds that his constituents were emailing him to demand Mr Hancock resigns

Coalville MP Andrew Bridgen says he disagreed with former Health Secretary Matt Hancock over his decision to link North West Leicestershire with Leicester during lockdown.

Mr Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, made it clear in an interview with Sky News that Mr Hancock had demonstrated 'hypocrisy' and 'lost the confidence of the people' following revelations in The Sun that he his affair with aide Gina Coladangelo had been caught on camera.

His resignation came on Saturday evening despite receiving the backing of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But Mr Bridgen's comments underlined suggestions that Mr Hancock did not have the support of many of his fellow MPs either.

He said the former Health Secretary had few friends following the controversy.

But Mr Bridgen is still clearly aggrieved that Mr Hancock did not listen to his argument last year that the Covid rates in North West Leicestershire were not as high as those in the City of Leicester.

Last December, he said that North West Leicestershire should move from tier 3 to 2 before a December 16 review of Covid restrictions Coalville MP says district should be taken out of Tier 3.

Mr Bridgen told Sky: "I don't agree with some of the issues he had taken, linking my constituency with the City of Leicester for local lockdown purposes.

"And basically condemning my constituents, whatever they did, to lockdown.

"I would've lifted the restrictions over lockdown probably far earlier than he has, but they've gone for a cautious approach.

"Fortunately, for this country, the procurement of the vaccine rollout has been such an excellent job, the Government has had the comparative luxury of a cautious lifting of lockdown procedures."

Mr Bridgen said that a number of constituents had also emailed him demanding Mr Hancock step down.

He added: "Colleagues, such as myself, their inboxes were filling up with constituents who are calling for him to go.

"We've seen this before, and his position became untenable.

"As far as I was concerned it was a private matter, however, if Matt Hancock believed the situation he'd got himself in had undermined his ability to carry out his duties as Health Secretary, he should've resigned.

"And if the Prime Minister thought, that his performance as Health Secretary would be undermined then he should've sacked him. Clearly that wasn't the case.

"Matt had apologised for breaking the social distancing rules, but clearly when you're not just having to abide by the rules but making the rules yourself, that puts him in an invidious position."

Mr Bridgen said that the former Health Secretary - who was replaced by Sajid Javid yesterday (Saturday) - had done the right thing by resigning.

He said: "You've got to have the confidence and support of the public, and although I think they had some sympathy with him over the affair, it wasn't that, it was the perceived hypocrisy of telling people to do one thing and doing another yourself, I'm breaking the rules.

"That did make his position as Health Secretary untenable. You have to have the confidence in the belief of the people.

"Matt had sadly lost that.

"We are quite near the end of the pandemic, and I'm sure he wanted to see it out.

"But at the end of the day, it's okay having the Prime Minister's confidence.

"The Health Secretary has to have the public confidence. It became apparent overnight, that the newspapers were going to continue printing headlines that were undermining public confidence.

"And the accusations of hypocrisy were there for all to see."

Mr Bridgen added that the issue had become a talking point that could not be ignored.

He added: "I spent the day with volunteers in Batley and Spen, for the by-election, the issue with Matt Hancock had dominated the headlines for 24 hours, and it was a topic on the doorstep.

"People had some sympathy for him as he had as they think he's done a pretty good job in the pandemic, with an unenviable task.

"However, during a pandemic in particular, it's absolutely essential that the Health Secretary had the confidence of the vast majority of the public. But he'd lost that in the last 24 hours. He had to resign.

"I think the cost of lockdown has not been calculated yet, the cost of mental health, well-being, the NHS, that's going to take a lot of dealing with

"We'll see when we get the full reports have damaging it's been two hours society and her economy.

"I didn't vote for extending the lockdown I voted against it. The figures were spurious and outdated."

When asked if the majority of Conservative MPs did not like Matt Hancock, Mr Bridgen said: "When you're in trouble, like Matt Hancock was, there aren't many friends about unfortunately."