The government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been thrust into the spotlight after the leak to the Daily Telegraph of more than 100,000 private WhatsApp messages involving Matt Hancock. The cache of messages, which reveal private conversations between several senior politicians and officials, provide a unique insight into the way the UK government operated at the height of the pandemic. Here are the five most important revelations from the investigation since Friday. Boris Johnson was a ‘distrusted figure’ Simon Case, the current head of the civil service, said to Hancock that the public needed to be told to isolate by “trusted local figures, not nationally distrusted figures like the PM”. The conversation between the then health secretary and Case took place on 30 October 2020, as testing capacity was being expanded. Hancock told Case: “I am going to get stuck in and drive this rollout. The PM is completely right on this. Delegate delegate delegate”. Case then responded: “Agree. My concern is that we can figure out how to test, what we don’t know how to do is get people to isolate. We are losing this war because of behaviour – this is the thing we have to turn around (which probably also relies on people hearing about isolation from trusted local figures, not nationally distrusted figures like the PM, sadly).” ‘Frighten the pants off everyone’ Hancock told aides he wanted to “frighten the pants off everyone” to ensure compliance with Covid-19 restrictions.
The then health secretary and others discussed how to use an announcement about the Alpha, or “Kent”, variant of the virus to scare the public into changing their behaviour. In a WhatsApp conversation on 13 December 2020, Damon Poole, one of Hancock’s media advisers, said Tory MPs were “furious already about the prospect” of stricter Covid measures and suggested “we can roll pitch with the new strain”. Hancock replied: “We frighten the pants off everyone with the new strain.” Poole said in agreement: “Yep that’s what will get proper bahviour [sic] change.” A ‘snog and heavy petting’ The messages between Hancock and officials show him responding to pictures that were published of him embracing his aide Gina Coladangelo. The messages reveal Hancock and his advisers talking among themselves and liaising with No 10 about how to respond to the story. As they awaited publication of the story, Hancock asked Poole: “How bad are the pics?” Told it was a “snog and heavy petting”, he replied: “How the fuck did anyone photograph that?” Poole then asked Hancock if he kissed Coladangelo in the department, to which Hancock said yes, clarifying it was in his “office & balcony”. Poole told Hancock and Coladangelo that the Sun had further evidence that the pair “were kissing again as late as this week in the office … Any response?” to which Coladangelo said: “FFS” and “Yes”. Hancock also said yes, adding: “It wasn’t exactly a one off.” The messages also show the reaction of Hancock and Coladangelo to the video leaked to the sun. “OMFG,” Coladangelo said, while Hancock responded: “Crikey. Not sure there’s much news value in that and I can’t say it’s very enjoyable viewing.” ‘Eat out to help the virus get about’ The messages show the tension between Hancock and the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, at the height of the pandemic. Sunak’s scheme to support restaurants that were forced to close during the pandemic was ridiculed by the former health secretory, who called it “eat out to help the virus get about”. The messages also show Hancock’s private concerns the scheme was spreading the virus. He told Simon Case that he had “kept it out of the news” that it was driving up Covid cases in some of the worst-hit areas and that it was causing “serious” problems. Call to sack ‘useless loudmouth’ Covid scientist The messages also reveal that Hancock called for Jeremy Farrar, then a member of the government’s scientific advisory body Sage, to be sacked. Farrar, who is the director of the Wellcome Trust and will take up the role of chief scientist at the World Health Organization this year, publicly questioned the government’s decision to shut down Public Health England in August 2020. In a message, Hancock said: “We need a Jeremy Farrar handling strategy. He is totally offside, a complete loudmouth, has little respect amongst the serious scientists. Did he approach us before doing [the Sky News programme Sophy] Ridge [on Sunday]? He needs to be either inside the tent and onside, or outside and commentating. He adds no value internally.”