Disclosed by the newspaper “The Telegraph”, these exchanges on WhatsApp show behind the scenes of public health decisions taken at the height of the health crisis. They notably implicate former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Minister of Health at the time, Matt Hancock, at the origin of the leak.
An unboxing that caused a stir in the UK. Since the beginning of March, the conservative British newspaper The Telegraph* publishes thousands of WhatsApp exchanges between former health minister Matt Hancock, ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other members of government or public health officials, as part of the management of the pandemic of Covid-19. Collected and disclosed as “Lockdown Files”these messages question how decisions affecting millions of Britons were made.
Confinement, tests, wearing a mask, closing schools … These exchanges notably implicate the former British Prime Minister, his Minister of Health at the time, Matt Hancock, and their advisers. Revelations that are controversial across the Channel, especially among critics of the various confinements and other health restrictions imposed for two years. Franceinfo summarizes this case for you.
1Messages provided by the former Minister of Health
The more than 100,000 messages contained in the “Lockdown Files” have been forwarded to Telegram by Isabel Oakeshott. This political journalist, known for her anti-containment and pro-Brexit positions, had obtained these exchanges from Matt Hancock after his departure from the government in 2021. The Minister of Health had to resign after the publication of photos showing him in kissing his mistress and adviser at a time when hugs were forbidden.
The minister had asked Isabel Oakeshott to help him write a book about his version of handling the pandemic and provided him with the conversations he had had with his government colleagues. This book, pandemic diaries, was released in December 2022, just as an independent commission began investigating the handling of the pandemic.
Despite a non-disclosure agreement with Matt Hancock, Isabel Oakeshott says she disclosed these messages in “the general interest”. “We absolutely cannot wait any longer for answers,” is justified in a long editorial of the Telegraph*. An approach described as“huge betrayal” by the former Minister of Health, quoted by the BBC*. Questioned by Politico*, Matt Hancock’s team also accuses the newspaper of having knowingly omitted messages and of being “biased”.
2Decisions made for political reasons
The leak of these messages aims to show that Boris Johnson has changed his mind on containment several times. According to Telegraph*his ex-adviser Dominic Cummings even nicknamed him the “shopping cart”due to its tendency to “bumping from side to side of the aisle”. In June 2020, the British Prime Minister wants, for example, to ease the containment measures. “Too early for public opinion”, warn its communications advisers. Boris Johnson then renounces this idea.
In July 2020, Boris Johnson speaks of a second confinement as “the nuclear option” and describes it in october like “the height of absurdity”. A week later, he finally put it in place, after the containment plan leaked to the press, even before the decision had been made.
According to documents from the Telegraph*the wearing of a mask at school, a measure that the chief medical officer (responsible for defining public health measures in the United Kingdom) had not deemed necessary, was decided by Boris Johnson in order not to offend the First Scottish Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who had set it up in Scotland.
The newspaper also claims that Matt Hancock suggested announcing the existence of the Alpha variant in December 2020 for “to scare”* to the population and encourage them to respect confinement, when Boris Johnson had promised that families could reunite at Christmas.
3 The failure of tests in retirement homes
According to Telegraph*Matt Hancock did not follow the advice of the chief medical officer to have all people entering care homes tested at the start of the pandemic, for fear of “cover the tracks”. Instead, the Minister of Health imposed the tests only for people in hospital. As a result, the death rate has soared in UK nursing homes. In two years, 40,000 people have died there from Covid. Today, the former minister claims to have listened to the scientist, but claims that systematic tests were impossible to carry out, due to a lack of sufficient stocks at the time.
4 Messages in the tone of joke or contempt
Several messages refer to the mocking, contemptuous or cynical tone used by British leaders. On quarantines of travelers returning from overseas, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, Head of Civil Service, says they are being placed in “shoe boxes” to talk about isolation rooms. He is amused by the fact that these travelers have chosen “of their own free will” to return to the country to be isolated in the hotel. “Hilarious !”he said.
In May 2020, teachers’ unions opposed the reopening of classes due to health risks. The Minister of Health describes them as “a bunch of absolute fools*”to which the Secretary of State for Education replied: “I know, they hate to work”.
5 The press asked to support the government
From the start of the pandemic, Matt Hancock set himself the goal of reaching 100,000 screening tests carried out per day. Faced with the difficulties in achieving this, the Telegraph* reveals that the Minister of Health asked George Osborne, then editor of the newspaper Evening Standard, to make its one on the subject. He tells her that there are thousands of slots available to get tested, which is “good news for the spread of the virus”but a bad one for its purpose. “I WANT TO REACH MY TARGET”he wrote to the journalist, who accepted his request in exchange for “exclusive statements” for his diary.
*These links refer to content in English.