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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Gregory Health editor

Matt Hancock: what do the leaked WhatsApp messages reveal?

Matt Hancock WhatsApp Chris Whitty Isabel Oakeshott George Osborne Pandemic Jacob ReesMogg Covid-19
Matt Hancock and Chris Whitty pictured arriving for a meeting at the Cabinet Office in London on 9 March 2020.
Matt Hancock and Chris Whitty pictured arriving for a meeting at the Cabinet Office in London on 9 March 2020. Photograph: Xinhua News Agency/PA

Matt Hancock is facing a series of claims based on a leaked cache of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages that provide an insight into the way the UK government operated at the height of the pandemic.

They include the suggestion that, while health secretary, he rejected advice from England’s chief medical officer, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, to test everyone going into care homes in England for Covid-19.

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