UK Information Watchdog Says ‘Lockdown Files’ Expose Issues With Public Record Keeping

A young girl paints a picture of herself on the school window as children of key workers take part in school activities at Oldfield Brow Primary School in Altrincham, England, on April 8, 2020. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The tens of thousands of leaked WhatsApp messages among government ministers and officials during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need to update rules around public record-keeping, the UK’s information watchdog said on Friday.

Writing in The Telegraph, Information Commissioner John Edwards said the newspaper’s revelation of how decisions were made on WhatsApp showed the need to review how private messaging apps are used in government in order to properly maintain the public record and ensure transparency and accountability.

The Lockdown Files

Since Feb. 28, The Telegraph has published more than 30 stories based on 100,000 WhatsApp messages it exclusively obtained from journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who had been given access to the messages by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock when he enlisted Oakeshott’s help to co-write a book called “Pandemic Diaries.”

The Telegraph dubbed the ongoing series “The Lockdown Files“—an apparent nod to the Elon Musk-endorsed Twitter Files investigation. Associate Editor Camilla Tominey said the publication decided to publish the messages because “in the interest of openness, transparency, and accountability, the public has a right to know what went on behind the scenes.”

On March 1, the newspaper claimed that Hancock, in the early days of the pandemic, rejected advice from England’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty that everyone going into care homes should be tested for COVID-19, telling an aide the move just “muddies the waters” and introduced mandatory testing only for those coming from hospitals rather than the community.

Following the report, Hancock disputed the claims made by the Telegraph, calling them “flat wrong,” and claiming the messages had been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda.”

Matt Hancock in an undated photo Aaron Chown/PA

Another Telegraph report published messages that appeared to show Hancock and Simon Case, permanent secretary at Downing Street, mocking people who had to enter hotel quarantine after travelling to the UK and speaking of pressuring the police to enforce lockdown rules.

Other claims include former Prime Minister Boris Johnson questioning the justification of the lockdowns, masks being introduced in England’s secondary schools to avoid “an argument” with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and Hancock scrambling to save his job after it was reported the married minister kissed his aide in office when social-distancing guidance was in place.

The Epoch Times hasn’t seen the texts and hasn’t been able to independently verify the claims.

Hancock resigned from the government a day after being caught cheating and not adhering to social distancing guidelines. Oakeshott wrote on Feb. 28 that Hancock subsequently downloaded the WhatsApp messages from his phone and shared them with various people, including her.

The journalist said the body of messages is “a vital historical record at a time when we need urgent answers.”

Having described COVID-19 lockdowns as an “unmitigated disaster,” Oakeshott said she was releasing the messages because it would take “many years” before the end of the official inquiry into the pandemic response, which she claimed could be a “colossal whitewash.”

Record Keeping

The information commissioner said the message leak highlighted a situation where we have a “government by WhatsApp.”

Noting that WhatsApp messages are still covered by freedom of information, meaning messages related to official businesses “absolutely can be requested through a freedom of information request,” Edwards said the reality is that “much of this information rests on people’s personal phones, or within personal accounts, and that it is rarely properly documented and archived.”

New technologies “can play a crucial role in keeping us connected. But the clear risk is that decision-making via WhatsApp risks being lost from the public record if it is not properly recorded and stored,” he added.

In July 2022, the commissioner’s office (ICO) published a report, calling for a review of use of private email and messaging apps within the government.

The ICO said its investigation found that the “lack of clear controls and the rapid increase in the use of messaging apps and technologies—such as WhatsApp—had the potential to lead to important information around the government’s response to the pandemic being lost or insecurely handled.”

Citing an example of protectively marked information being located in non-corporate or private accounts outside of the Department of Health and Social Care’s official systems, the ICO said there were “real risks to transparency and accountability within government,” and called for a review of practices.

Reiterating the call, Edwards noted that the Cabinet Office has promised to update its guidance on communications channels, saying he hopes the updated guidance will “mark the beginning of a real sea change in how communication in government departments is handled.”

“We rely on a collective memory of the past to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future. Stores of hundreds of thousands of WhatsApps do not cut the mustard.”

Owen Evans contributed to this report.