Rishi Sunak is urgently reconsidering his private exchange with Matt Hancock today after the former health minister’s WhatsApp account was leaked.
A Whitehall source said action was taken after the Daily Telegraph received 100,000 messages exchanged during the Covid crisis.
The unprecedented leak is likely to extend to dozens of ministers and officials who, along with Mr. Hancock worked.
He came under fire from loved ones after reports emerged that he had refused official advice to test all residents entering care homes – a claim he strongly denies.
The reports were leaked by Isobel Oakeshott, the journalist appointed to cover Mr. Hancock’s pandemic diaries to haunt.
Rishi Sunak is urgently reconsidering his private exchange with Matt Hancock today after the former health minister’s WhatsApp account was leaked. A Whitehall source said action was taken after the Daily Telegraph received 100,000 messages exchanged during the Covid crisis
The unprecedented leak is likely to extend to dozens of ministers and officials who, along with Mr. Hancock worked
Friends of the politician said today that he is considering legal action to prevent further disclosure of messages he believes were “stolen”.
A spokesman said: “She breached a statutory non-disclosure agreement. Your behavior is outrageous.’
Downing Street suggested that the data protection officer could investigate whether the leak breached data protection laws. Mr Hancock also faced questions about why he entrusted the sensitive material to Miss Oakeshott, who opposed Covid restrictions.
READ MORE: Covid gurus Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance warned lockdown wasn’t ‘very effective’ at start of pandemic – but guidelines affecting 2.2m Brits only lifted in April 2021
A Whitehall source described the decision as “stunning” and added: “Why would you hand all your messages to someone who has a record of handing people over and who has spoken out vehemently against the policies you were responsible for?
“It was idiotic and it was lazy – it seems he just didn’t feel like doing the work himself for his so-called diaries.
“The worst thing is that many of them could not pass on his messages. All sorts of people, some of them quite young, now have their private thoughts in the papers. It’s not good – that’s why we have laws against it.’
The Daily Telegraph said today it would publish the exchange between Mr Hancock and Mr Sunak, who was chancellor during the pandemic.
Downing Street confirmed that Sunak discussed government policy via WhatsApp. But a source said he is “very careful” about the messages he sends.
The inquiry found that England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, told the then health secretary in April 2020 that testing should be carried out for “everyone going into care homes”.
Mr Hancock described it as “obviously a good, positive step”.
But the exchange suggested from April 2020 that Mr. Hancock eventually rejected the guidance, telling an adviser that the move was simply “muddying the waters”. He introduced mandatory tests only for those coming from hospitals, not from the community.
Allies of Mr Hancock said this was because a lack of testing capacity meant they could not screen everyone entering a care home.
His representative said: “These stolen messages have been manipulated to create a false narrative that Matt refused clinical advice about care home testing. This is completely wrong.”
In the House of Commons, Care Secretary Helen Whately told MPs that a capacity test meeting – on the same day as Mr. Hancock’s message – revealed that it is impossible to look at everyone who goes into care homes. to test.
She said an email was sent that day saying the department could “immediately” resume testing people discharged from hospital into care homes and then “as soon as capacity allows.” to proceed with more comprehensive testing.
Jean Adamson, whose father died in a care home in April 2020, told Good Morning Britain she was “sickened and disgusted” by the revelations.
“At the time, he was more focused on achieving his goals than on the well-being of our most vulnerable members of society,” she said.
And because of his decisions, his passivity, tens of thousands of elderly people died in nursing homes. So I feel absolutely sickened and disgusted by these revelations.”
Miss Oakeshott defended her decision to release the emails, saying the public deserved to know the truth now, rather than waiting for a public inquiry that could take years and lead to “whitewashing”.
But former health secretary Lord Bethel, an ally of Mr. Hancock, accused her of treason and said she was “not a good friend”.
The peer said the public deserved the full truth from the public inquiry and not a version based on “a few sloppy WhatsApps”.
A spokesman for Mr Hancock said: “It is outrageous that this distorted portrayal of the pandemic is being printed with partial leaks skewed to suit an anti-lockdown agenda that would have cost hundreds of thousands of lives had it been followed What the reports show is that many people are working hard to save lives.
“The full documents have all already been made available to the inquiry, which is the right place for an objective assessment so that real lessons can be learned.”
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
