Matt Hancock’s affair during the pandemic made him the most Googled political figure of the year, search trends have revealed.

The former health secretary resigned in June after CCTV footage leaked of him breaching social distancing guidance by kissing a colleague.

Mr Hancock has now been named as the top trending political figure of the year – ranking higher than even Joe Biden, the US president, who entered office in January.

His rule-breaking kiss with Gina Coladangelo also meant the search “Matt Hancock memes” was the most popular search of its kind in 2021, according to Google’s “year in search” results released this week.

Memes are typically images shared on social media, in this case of Mr Hancock kissing Ms Coladangelo, which contain witty captions. Some are so widely circulated they are seen by millions of people.

Mr Hancock’s affair also made him one of the top two most Googled people this year, alongside footballer Christian Eriksen, who had a cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 match.

Mr Hancock told the Chopper’s Politics podcast last month that he had suffered extreme social media abuse since he stood down as health secretary.