Leaked WhatsApp messages have revealed Matt Hancock's team asked if they could "lock up" Nigel Farage after he tweeted a picture of himself at a Kent pub.

The former Health Secretary urgently messaged his closest advisers after Farage shared the image of himself at The Queens Head pub in Downe Village in July 2020.

He said it was his "first proper pint in 103 days" but just two weeks before the Brexit Party leader had been in Oklahoma to support Donald Trump at a rally, The Telegraph reports.

At the time, people in England who had travelled abroad were required to quarantine at home for 14 days. They faced a £1,000 fine for not complying.

Mr Hancock asked his team, which included special advisers and senior officials, to contact the Home Office to see if they were going to pursue Farage over the suspected breach.

At around 4.30pm he messaged the "MH top team" WhatsApp group with a link to an article claiming the politician breached quarantine rules.

He wrote: "We need to discuss urgently."

"Does he count as a pub hooligan?"

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, who was one of Mr Hancock’s aides, replied: “Does he count as a pub hooligan? Can we lock him up?”

A senior civil servant suggested Priti Patel, then home secretary, be contacted about the incident.

The police are operationally independent of the Home Office. Despite this, Mr Hancock instructed his team to contact Ms Patel’s private office.

He said: “Can you ask HO PO if they are considering it. Isn’t enforcement for PHE?”

Three minutes later, Mr Njoku-Goodwin responded to say that he had “just spoken to HO [Home Office] spads”.

He added: “Sounds like we need to get PHE to do one of their ‘spot checks’ and prove that he isn’t at home.”

Mr Hancock then went on to say Farage's case should be dealt with "like any other" and any enforcement should be taken by the Home Office and not the Department of Health.

The former UKIP leader, who has made multiple attempts to become an MP in the county, revealed to the Telegraph that he believes he was actually in breach of the rules at the time.

He said: “If I was being honest with you, after the first set of lockdowns I wasn’t really prepared for some little pipsqueak like Matt Hancock to tell me how to live my life, quite frankly.

“That photo was taken when I came back from America, on the day the pubs opened. It was pretty nip and tuck ... which means I probably was in breach. I’m probably a Covidiot.

“The idea that headmaster Hancock was after me – I love it."