He also openly backed the police taking action if they thought it was warranted.
The headlines on that are a bit misleading;
Asked if he thought Prof Ferguson should have been prosecuted for his apparent breach of lockdown rules, the health secretary added: "It's a matter for the police, as a government minister I'm not allowed to get involved in the operational decisions of police matters.
"But I think the social distancing rules are very important and people should follow them."
He added: "They'll take their decisions independently from ministers - that's quite right, it's always been like that.
"And that's why, even though I've got a clear answer to what I think, as a minister, the way we run the police is that they make decisions like this.
"So I give them their space to make that decision, but I think he took the right decision to resign."