NEWS STORY : Matt Hancock Says Leaking of His WhatsApp Messages is “Massive Betrayal”
STORY
The leaking of over 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent by the former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, during the COVID pandemic has caused controversy in the UK. Journalist Isabel Oakeshott who was working with Hancock on a book provided The Daily Telegraph with the messages which allegedly show that Hancock rejected testing advice on care homes and expressed concern that testing could get in the way of meeting his targets. The messages have also led to a war of words between Hancock and Oakeshott, with the former describing the leak as a “massive betrayal and breach of trust” and the journalist saying that she had received menacing messages from the former Health Secretary. The information watchdog has today also warned of the risks of ministers using platforms like WhatsApp.
Hancock said in a statement:
“There is absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. All the materials for the book have already been made available to the inquiry, which is the right, and only, place for everything to be considered properly and the right lessons to be learned. As we have seen, releasing them in this way gives a partial, biased account to suit an anti-lockdown agenda”.
Oakeshott said:
“I’m a working journalist. They did not pay me for the messages, I’ve been helping the Daily Telegraph with the investigation, you’ll see that I’ve been writing stories for the Daily Telegraph”.
RESOURCES
Matt Hancock’s Statement on Leak
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