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Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has accused journalist Isabel Oakshott of “massive betrayal” and a “breach of trust” after leaking a WhatsApp message he sent during the Covid pandemic.
message passed Telegraph Acquired by journalist Ms. Oakshott while writing for the former Health Secretary’s memoirs pandemic diary.
Oakshott claimed he made the message public because it would take “many years” to complete an investigation into the government’s pandemic response, and feared it would be a “hoax.”
On Wednesday night, she accused Hancock of sending “threatening” messages early in the morning, which he strongly denied.
In a statement released Thursday, Hancock said:
“I also apologize for affecting so many people, including political colleagues, civil servants and friends who have worked hard with me to get through the pandemic and save lives.”
Hancock continues: All the material in the book is already made available to the Inquiry, the right and only place for all to be properly considered and the right lessons to be learned. ”
The leaked messages included interactions between Mr Hancock and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty and former Secretary of Education Sir Gavin Williamson. .
A number of civil servants and former aides have also been named directly in exchanges announced by Telegraph.
Oakshot said I When she chose to publish her message, she acted in the “national interest”.
“We cannot wait 10 years to learn the lessons[of Covid lockdowns],” she said. “These WhatsApp messages provide much more immediate information about what responders actually said and did. Their release is overwhelmingly in the public interest.”
Hancock said the allegations that Oakshott had sent her “threatening” messages were “extremely false” and only told her that releasing WhatsApp was a “huge mistake”. said that
“Last night I was accused of sending threatening messages to Isabel, which is also wrong. and asked if there was “any clue” about it, but got no response. Nothing more. “
“I will not comment further on the other stories and false claims made by Isabel. We respond to substances in the appropriate places of investigation so that we can learn from them.”