London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 29, 2025

Isabel Oakeshott says Matt Hancock messages leak ‘in public interest’

Isabel Oakeshott says Matt Hancock messages leak ‘in public interest’

Writer who handed more than 100,000 of ex-health secretary’s messages to newspaper defends her actions
The writer who handed more than 100,000 of the former health secretary Matt Hancock’s messages to a newspaper has defended her actions, saying she was acting in the national interest.

Isabel Oakeshott, who is at the centre of a row about the leak of Hancock’s correspondence to the Daily Telegraph, hit back after his criticism of her actions.

“The greatest betrayal is of the entire country,” she said, in a statement responding to Hancock’s accusation that she had betrayed his trust.

Oakeshott added: “Hard though it may be for him to believe, this isn’t about Matt Hancock, or indeed any other individual politician. Nor is it about me.”

Along with the Telegraph, Oakeshott – a longtime critic of public health measures taken by the government during the Covid pandemic – has sought to portray the leaked messages as evidence some lockdown curbs were unnecessary.

On Thursday, she said: “We were all let down by the response to the pandemic and repeated unnecessary lockdowns. Children, in particular, paid a terrible price. Anyone who questioned an approach we now know was fatally flawed was utterly vilified; including highly respected and eminent public health experts, doctors and scientists.

“So, far from being protected, the NHS may never recover, as millions of patients condemned to year-long waiting lists are discovering. Meanwhile, the economy is in smithereens.

“It is now essential that the public inquiry, set up almost two years ago, quickly establishes deadlines for its work and answers the urgent question about whether lockdown, with all its impacts, was proportionate. These issues must be addressed well before the next general election.

“Against this backdrop, the Telegraph exposé is clearly in the overwhelming public interest. The outpouring of support I and the paper have had from ordinary people who suffered – and are still suffering – the consequences of the mistakes we are exposing shows how desperately the nation wants answers.

“I make no apology whatsoever for acting in the national interest: the worst betrayal of all would be to cover up these truths.”

The latest Telegraph article based on the messages originally handed to Oakeshott by Hancock so she could ghost-write his pandemic memoir featured Boris Johnson’s concerns that he might be accused of having “blinked too soon” in declaring a second lockdown in winter 2020, as Covid deaths rose sharply.

It included one exchange in which Johnson cited concerns from a UK scientist that the modelling for the number of deaths could be wrong. After Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, provided the latest death statistics, Johnson noted that those for England had fallen marginally, adding: “The attack is going to be that we blinked too soon.”

In other messages showing government discussions about Covid policy during the pandemic, two of Johnson’s media advisers, Lee Cain and James Slack, warned in June 2020 against an early lifting of some restrictions as being potentially “too far ahead of public opinion”.

Oakeshott’s statement came after Hancock said he was the victim of a “massive betrayal and breach of trust” over the disclosure of the messages.

The former health secretary also apologised for the impact their release had on those he worked with during the pandemic.

Hancock gave the messages to Oakeshott as they collaborated on his memoirs. She subsequently handed them to the Telegraph, which published a series of stories based on the correspondence with fellow ministers and officials.

Oakeshott has faced questions about why she ghost-wrote a book for Hancock that put across his version of the government’s response to the pandemic while she had in hand the WhatsApp messages she now claims tell a different story. She has said she wrote the book he wanted, that there was too much material to go through at the time and that, after she finished writing Hancock’s book for him, her responsibility then became to the public.

Hancock has said: “I am hugely disappointed and sad at the massive betrayal and breach of trust by Isabel Oakeshott.

“I am also sorry for the impact on the very many people – political colleagues, civil servants and friends – who worked hard with me to get through the pandemic and save lives.”

He said there was “absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach” because all the material used for his book, Pandemic Diaries, was given to the Covid-19 public inquiry.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
×