London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Isabel Oakeshott: the political journalist who turned on Matt Hancock

Isabel Oakeshott: the political journalist who turned on Matt Hancock

The 48-year-old has long held conflicted feelings towards Hancock. Here’s how she went from helping him with his book to airing his dirty laundry

Behind most successful memoirs there is a successful ghostwriter, ploughing away in the background, crossing the i’s and dotting the t’s — we all know that. This is especially true of memoirs released with an eyebrow-raising proximity to the events it depicts: speed is essential, and someone needs to help collate notes and evidence.

In the case of Matt Hancock’s bombshell memoir The Pandemic Diaries, in which the former Health Secretary details his experiences running the UK’s Covid response at the height of the pandemic, this helping hand was extended by Isabel Oakeshott, a political journalist and right-of-centre television commentator who, in her own words, “left newspapers to write books,” but “never stopped breaking big stories”.

True to form, Oakeshott has today decided to expose reams of Hancock’s private texts during the pandemic period via The Telegraph. Texts which she had access to as a result of assisting Hancock with his book, and which paint Hancock in a rather unfavourable light. This change in allegiance, she says, is because “a great deal of material that is overwhelmingly in the public interest and pertinent to the public inquiry was suppressed” from being published in the book.

Hancock isn’t happy. His team have hit back at Oakeshott and The Telegraph, saying the story is “wrong, based on partial, spun leaks,” and that they failed to approach Hancock before publication.

So who is Oakeshott, and how did this happy working relationship turn sour?


Westminster-born, Westminster-bred

Isabel Oakeshott

Oakeshott, 48, was born in Westminster, raised in Scotland and educated at the University of Bristol. She initially worked at Scottish publications before moving back to the capital and returning to her birthplace — this time in a professional capacity. She first became a political journalist at this paper (the Evening Standard), then moved to The Sunday Times, where she eventually secured the title of political editor. She collected the award for Political Journalist of the Year at the 2011 Press Awards and was hailed by the BBC as one of the “brightest and best of [her] generation.”


Outside of the world of journalism, Oakeshott became a household name when she co-authored the unauthorised biography of David Cameron, aka the book that kicked off Pig Gate (for those that somehow managed to forget, Cameron was accused of inserting “a private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth as part of the process of joining the exclusive Piers Gaveston Society at Oxford University). The allegations sparked speculation over their legitimacy and Oakeshott herself later admitted the MP who was her source for this information might have been “slightly deranged". Cameron later called the story “false and ludicrous.”

Oakeshott co-wrote the unauthorised David Cameron biography ‘Call Me Dave’ with Lord Ashcroft in 2015

Oakeshott stayed close to Westminster, working as The Daily Mail’s political editor-at-large and as a panellist on the BBC’s Daily Politics show. She pivoted more towards broadcast journalism in 2021, when she joined Andrew Neil’s right-leaning startup channel GB News, then quickly moved to TalkTV, where she is now. Most recently she was told to “shut up” by Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith as part of a panel discussion.

From colleagues to frenemies


The Pandemic Diaries was not the first time Oakeshott had interacted with Matt Hancock, and this recent exposé isn’t the first time she’s criticised him publicly. Their proximity in Westminster means she’s handled stories regarding him before. In fact, she claims that she ‘passed’ on breaking his bombshell affair with Gina Colandangelo because the images ‘looked like they might have been doctored’ — and perhaps that forged a little fondness, because the two appeared to be quite close by the time they worked together on his book.

Matt Hancock

When Hancock jetted off the jungle for I’m A Celebrity shortly before their book’s publication, Oakenshott told This Morning that he had consulted her for her advice. “He did ask me what I thought and whether I thought it was a good idea,” she said over Zoom. “Obviously I presented the pros and cons. Before I knew it, he had disappeared off to Australia. So I think this was a pretty last minute decision.” She continued: “I think Matt does feel that he wants people to see a different side of his personality.”


That being said, she also wrote a piece for The Spectator saying she and Hancock have “almost nothing in common” and that the pair “fundamentally disagree over his handling of the pandemic” four days after the book’s release — one of the first indications that Oakenshott was a little torn over her participation in the book. Then came the bombshell.

The lockdown files

Isabel Oakenshott

Today The Telegraph published details of over 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic, thanks to Oakenshott. She has defended her decision on the basis of helping the current public enquiry into the UK’s preparedness, said the texts are “vital historical records”, and has called for “urgent answers”. So what was the straw that broke the camel’s back?


The clue might be in Oakeshott’s Spectator piece from early December, where she explained why she decided to work with Hancock despite disagreeing with his handling of the pandemic. “Journalists don’t only interrogate people they agree with,” Oakenshott wrote. “Quite the reverse. I wanted to get to the truth. What better way to find out what really happened – who said what to whom; the driving force and thinking behind key policies and decisions; who (if anyone) dissented; and how they were crushed – than to align myself with the key player? I might not get the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but I’d certainly get a good dollop of it, and a keen sense of anything murky requiring further investigation.”


If today’s news is anything to go by, it seems as though Oakenshott stumbled upon the murky, and decided it required further investigation. Hancock’s team are furious, and the claim that Oakenshott failed to approach Hancock for comment doubles down on the betrayal. Trojan horse or turncoat, this story isn’t over yet.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×