Matt Hancock's leaked messages being 'used to rewrite history', say civil servants

The mass leaking of thousands of Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages have laid bare in the starkest terms the extent of the divisions inside the cabinet and among advisers and civil servants handling the deadliest pandemic in modern times.But some who worked in Number 10 and across Whitehall, as well as bereaved families, have been angered by what they see as a rewriting of history by some cabinet ministers and by the framing of some of Hancock’s texts.Some who have spoken to the Guardian say an “anti-lockdown filter” has been put on events, including many MPs who now have the benefit of hindsight.Hancock himself has decided against releasing any additional messages or documents that could show a different light.“It goes against our main argument and fundamental belief that it is for the independent inquiry, to look at everything objectively, not just partial information, through an anti-lockdown lens,” a source close to him said.Even though the journalist who leaked the messages, Isabel Oakeshott, had the motivation to further the anti-lockdown argument, the content of the messages themselves still raise serious questions.They reveal potentially key misjudgments which might have cost lives – rather than prolonged lockdowns – including rising case numbers linked to
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