London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Rishi Sunak backs Simon Case over Hancock WhatsApp row

Rishi Sunak backs Simon Case over Hancock WhatsApp row

Rishi Sunak has backed the UK's top civil servant Simon Case over comments he made about the government's Covid policies in WhatsApp messages.
In exchanges with Matt Hancock, published by The Telegraph, Mr Case calls then PM Boris Johnson a "distrusted" figure.

He also mocks people forced to stay in quarantine hotels and appears to criticise other minsters.

Mr Sunak rejected calls to sack Mr Case over the comments.

He said the cabinet secretary had "done a great job" and "works hard to support the government's agenda".

Asked if Mr Case would still be in his job at the time of the next general election, Mr Sunak said he looked forward to working with him for a "long time to come".

Separately, a cabinet office insider told the BBC Mr Case was uncomfortable with being in the spotlight, especially as he is unable to respond to the criticism in public because of civil service rules.

Another source said Mr Case's departure from his job was "extremely unlikely".

As a senior civil servant, Mr Case is required to give impartial policy advice to government ministers.

But he has faced criticism over the tone of the exchanges with Mr Hancock.

Conservative MP Marcus Fysh told BBC News the messages "just make it untenable for him [Mr Case] to be credible as a leader of the civil service".

The Yeovil MP, a former member of the Commons Public Administration Committee, said Mr Case should be replaced by someone who can offer a "balanced" view.

"He needs to fall on his sword and the government needs to encourage that," said the MP, who was highly critical of Covid lockdown extensions during the pandemic.

One WhatsApp exchange with Mr Hancock, from June 2020, appears to suggest opposition to tougher Covid rules was "pure Conservative ideology".

In a separate exchange, Mr Case reportedly said then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak had been "going bonkers" over a row about contact tracing.

In another exchange with Mr Hancock, from October 2020, Mr Case said the government was "losing the war" on getting people to isolate after testing because messages were coming from Mr Johnson who was "nationally distrusted".

He added that keeping Mr Johnson focussed on "numbers" of new Covid cases would "keep him honest".

The messages also included exchanges between Mr Hancock and Mr Case, from February 2021, in which the cabinet secretary said it was "hilarious" that international travellers had to isolate on their return to the UK.

"I just want to see some of the faces of people coming out of first class and into a Premier Inn shoe box," he told Mr Hancock.

A former senior civil servant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the exchanges published by the Telegraph did not necessarily tell the whole story.

But discussing government business on WhatsApp in this way suggested "a lack of professionalism", not least because the messages can be made public.

"It does seem to display a laxity in the decision-making process. with decisions being made for, frankly, emotional, personal, or 'small p' political reasons", he said of Mr Case's exchanges with Mr Hancock.

Some of this may be down to Mr Case's "inexperience" as a senior civil servant, he suggested, and his apparent desire to act as "courtier" to ministers, rather than an impartial adviser.

"As a cabinet secretary, you don't need to curry favour, to be seen to be 'on side' with ministers, in this case Matt Hancock," said the former civil servant.

It was, he suggested, "illustrative, perhaps, of a lack of grip on the job" and he would not be surprised if Mr Case was considering quitting.

"There is wisdom in choosing the time of your own departure and maybe that is something he will be thinking about."

The messages are part of trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages leaked to the Telegraph by journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the messages, which were supplied to Ms Oakeshott in confidence by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Mr Hancock has said they offer an "entirely partial account" of the government's handling of the pandemic.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×