In the most recent batch of Matt Hancock’s hacked communications, Sir Gavin Williamson, a former education secretary, said that some schools wanted to close during the Covid pandemic so staff would have a “excuse” not to work.
In May 2020, when teachers and ministers prepared for the start of regular classes again following the first national lockdown, they communicated via WhatsApp.
According to messages obtained by the Daily Telegraph, Sir Gavin requested assistance from Mr. Hancock in procuring PPE for schools. He also stated: “Some will just want to say they can’t [open] so they have an excuse to avoid having to teach, what delights!!!”
Those comments contrast with public statements at the time thanking teachers for their ‘outstanding work’ and praising them for ‘going above and beyond the call of duty’.
Months later, Mr Hancock messaged Sir Gavin congratulating him on getting A-level exams delayed for a few weeks, 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.’
The then-Health Secretary replied with two laughing emojis alongside a bullseye.
Schools minister defends govt after leaked WhatsApps insinuate teachers are lazy
Following their publication by The Telegraph, the former education secretary tweeted that his comments had been ‘about some unions and not teachers’.
He added: ‘I have the utmost respect for teachers who work tirelessly to support students.’
The tranche of more than 100,000 WhatsAapp messages was passed to the paper by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was given the material by Mr Hancock when they were working together on a book about his time in government during the pandemic.
In a statement, Matt Hancock said he is ‘hugely disappointed and sad at the massive betrayal and breach of trust’ by Ms Oakeshott.
He added of the leaked messages: ‘As we have seen, releasing them in this way gives a partial, biased account to suit an anti-lockdown agenda.’
The statement went on: ‘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.’
Earlier, Ms Oakeshott confirmed that she had broken an non-disclosure agreement with Mr Hancock – although she argued that her action was overwhelmingly in the ‘public interest’.
She acknowledged however that he was not happy at what she had done.
‘I received a somewhat menacing message from him at 1.20 in the morning,’ she told TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored.
‘I think he is extremely troubled about how to respond to this, but this is not about him.’
The former health secretary is ‘considering all options’ in response to the leak, with a source close to him saying: ‘She’s (Ms Oakeshott) broken a legal NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Her behaviour is outrageous.’