Matt Hancock says leaking of WhatsApp messages a ‘massive betrayal’ as he apologises to colleagues – UK politics live

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, has said the WhatsApp exchanges between Matt Hancock and Gavin Williamson (see 9.41am) shows how litte Conservatives value teachers. They were a “kick in the teeth’” for the profession, she claimed. She said:

These comments are a kick in the teeth for teachers who stretched every sinew for children during the pandemic.

They add insult to injury at a time when fewer people are joining the profession, and when teachers are leaving classrooms in their droves.

The Conservatives have shown us today exactly how much they value our teachers. Labour will always value the incredible work all school staff do.

Nick Gibb, the schools minister who was doing the same job when Gavin Williamson was education secretary during the pandemic, defended his old boss in the light of what he said about teachers on WhatsApp. (See 9.42am.) In an interview with LBC, Gibb said people sometimes ‘“in the heat of the moment” say things on WhatsApp “they don’t really believe”. He said:

I think [Williamson] was talking about the union, but I don’t think he believes that either. Gavin’s own wife is a primary school teacher – I’ve worked with Gavin for two years; I know he holds teachers in the highest regard.

We all in government hold teachers in the highest regard, both during the pandemic and in normal times as well.

People say things in the heat of the moment on WhatsApp that they don’t really believe.

In a separate interview, Gibb said it would be up to the Covid inquiry to decide whether or not the government made the right decision about opening and closing schools during the pandemic.

The Daily Telegraph has published WhatsApp messages showing Matt Hancock, the then health secretary, and Sir Gavin Williamson, the then education secretary, criticising teaching unions, or some teachers generally.

It has published this exchange from May 2020, when Williamson wanted schools to be able to get PPE from local resilience forums (LRFs). Williamson said some schools did not want to re-open “to avoid having to teach”.

In October that year the two ministers had a similar exchange, focusing on the teaching unions. The Telegraph reports:

At almost 10pm Mr Hancock got in touch with his Cabinet colleague, writing: “Cracking announcement today. What a bunch of absolute arses the teaching unions are”

Sir Gavin responded: “I know they really really do just hate work”

To which Mr Hancock replied: “???????????? “

This morning Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders union, said Williamson’s comments were “contemptible”. Barton told BBC Breakfast:

It’s contemptible because we have to remind ourselves that this was an age of extraordinary anxiety. We hadn’t got vaccines.

And the government was starting to look to the teaching profession to welcome those young people back into school … And essentially, the very people who then brought those young people back into school are being described in those snide terms by the former education secretary.

In a statement responding to the Telegraph report, Williamson said:

Further to reports in the Telegraph and other outlets, I wish to clarify that these messages were about some unions and not teachers. As demonstrated in the exchange, I was responding regarding unions.

I have the utmost respect for teachers who work tirelessly to support students. During the pandemic, teachers went above and beyond during very challenging times and very much continue to do so.

Keir Starmer has been urged to intervene in the selection process for a Labour target “red wall” seat, after a leading candidate who had the support of eight trade unions was blocked from standing, my colleague Aletha Adu reports.

Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who handed over Matt Hancock’s private Covid WhatsApp messages (which she had seen when co-authoring his Pandemic Diaries) to the Daily Telegraph, has been giving interviews this morning.

On the Today programme, where she was interviewed at 7.10am, she said she would not be getting into a “slanging match” with Hancock. She said:

Do you know what I’m not going to do, because it wouldn’t be pretty, is get involved in a slanging match with Matt Hancock.

He can threaten me all he likes. There are plenty of things I can say about his behaviour, by the way, that I’m not going to do – at least not at this stage – because this is not about Matt Hancock. It is so much bigger than that.

But that did not stop her doing a little bit of slanging after Hancock released his statement (see 8.45am) around an hour later condemning her conduct. Referring to his claim that there was “no public interest case” for what she had done, she told TalkTV:

What a ridiculous defence. For someone who’s as intelligent as Matt Hancock to issue a statement saying there is no public interest in these revelations is patently absurd. And he knows that very well.

Good morning. The Daily Telegraph has published another raft of stories based on Matt Hancock’s private Covid WhatsApp messages, filling the first nine pages of the paper. Here is my colleague Jessica Elgot’s story with the highlights.

This morning Matt Hancock has for the first time responded directly to the story. Yesterday his spokesperson issued a statement on his behalf, but this morning Hancock has put out a statement in his own name. He accuses Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who gave the material to the Telegraph, of a “massive betrayal” and says he is “sorry” for the impact this has had on his colleagues (whose messages to Hancock are now also in the public domain).

He also denies a claim from Oakeshott that he sent her a menacing message in the early hours of yesterday morning, after the first Telegraph reports were published.

Here is his statement in full.

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.

There is absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. All the materials for the book have already been made available to the inquiry, which is the right, and only, place for everything to be considered properly and the right lessons to be learned. As we have seen, releasing them in this way gives a partial, biased account to suit an anti-lockdown agenda.

Isabel and I had worked closely together for more than a year on my book, based on legal confidentiality and a process approved by the Cabinet Office. Isabel repeatedly reiterated the importance of trust throughout, and then broke that trust.

Last night, I was accused of sending menacing messages to Isabel. This is also wrong. When I heard confused rumours of a publication late on Tuesday night, I called and messaged Isabel to ask her if she had ‘any clues’ about it, and got no response. When I then saw what she’d done, I messaged to say it was ‘a big mistake’. Nothing more.

I will not be commenting further on any other stories or false allegations that Isabel will make. I will respond to the substance in the appropriate place, at the inquiry, so that we can properly learn all the lessons based on a full and objective understanding of what happened in the pandemic, and why.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, makes a statment to MPs on next week’s business.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

11.30am: Rishi Sunak opens at an away-day for Conservative MPs at a hotel in Windsor, where they spend the day at presentations and seminars, before dinner. MPs are staying the night and there is another session tomorrow morning.

12pm: Boris Johnson is due to speak at a conference in Westminster on global soft power.

12pm: Nicola Sturgeon takes first minister’s questions at Holyrood.

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