Matt Hancock and Isabel Oakeshott: A tale of scoops, betrayal and WhatsApp

[T_i_B]

Difficult to feel any sympathy for either Hancock or Oakeshott over the current brouhaha. And I don't think anyone will emerge very well out of this.

Not sure what Hancock was thinking getting the notoriously untrustworthy mistress of a rival party leader opposed to lockdowns to ghost write his pandemic diaries for free?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64825476

Her scoop for the Telegraph is journalistically unusual. The Telegraph's Covid splash is very different because Matt Hancock is the source. His ghostwriter really has come back to haunt him.

When the pair decided to collaborate on his Pandemic Diaries, Mr Hancock's diary-style account of his experience of government during Covid, Ms Oakeshott signed a confidentiality agreement.

He handed over more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages between himself, other ministers, aides and public health advisors.

These are the messages she has now given to the Telegraph. We are promised perhaps a week of revelations. Questions are being asked about Matt Hancock's judgment in trusting Isabel Oakeshott at all.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. And then Oakeshott was asked why she didn't use her Times employer for the 'scoop'

and she ran off in a huff:

Isabel Oakeshott hangs up on Times Radio during heated interview

Isabel Oakeshott, TalkTV’s international editor, broke a non-disclosure agreement to leak thousands of messages sent by Hancock, which she had access to through co-writing his book, the Pandemic Diaries.

Oakeshott clashed with Cathy Newman on Friday during a Times Radio interview, in which Newman questioned Oakeshott on her decision to work with the Telegraph on the story, rather than her colleagues at TalkTV or affiliated papers the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun.

Newman had asked whether it was fair that “producers and reporters on a fraction of your salary were having to kind of put up with your sloppy seconds, and follow up on the story in a rival newspaper”, making reference to her £250,000 salary.
...
The interview ended when Oakeshott hung up halfway through a question about her protection of her sources.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/04/isabel-oakeshott-hangs-up-on-times-radio-during-heated-interview

Yeah, no sympathy for anyone involved, though the "scoops" are mostly damp squibs. Gavin Williamson saying some teachers were looking for "an excuse to avoid having to teach" might have been significant, if he hadn't already had to resign over bullying allegations. I wonder if someone in the Times complex took a look at what she offered and said "so what?" Or if she went to the Telegraph to get more of an anti-lockdown spin on it.

[LeftishBrit]

2. One of the nastiest people in the country backstabbing one of the nastiest people in the country

And yes:


'Not sure what Hancock was thinking getting the notoriously untrustworthy mistress of a rival party leader opposed to lockdowns to ghost write his pandemic diaries for free?'

That's the one thing that shocked me: I already knew he was a disastrously stupid Health Secretary, but honestly, this deserves a prize for idiocy!

Of course, the words 'Hancock' and 'thinking' don't really belong in the same sentence.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Ooh, my MP caught: Steve Brine: Tory MP faces calls for probe into lobbying claims

Leaked messages from 2021 show he had been "trying for months" to contact health bosses on behalf of Remedium Partners, where he was a paid adviser.
...
In his message to Mr Gove, Mr Brine wrote: "Sorry to raise this but having tried the Dept of Health (seemed logical) and the Chief Exec of [NHS England] (ditto) I am at a loss."
...
Mr Brine, the MP for Winchester, was a junior minister at the health department between June 2017 and March 2019. He currently chairs the Commons health select committee, a role he has held since November.

The parliamentary register of interests show he was paid £1,600 a month as a "strategic adviser" to Remedium Partners from July 2020. He held the role until December 2021, 10 months after his message to Mr Gove.

The rulebook for MPs says they should not lobby - try to influence - ministers on behalf of companies that are paying them.

Separately, the appointment rules for former ministers say they should not lobby the government within two years of leaving their ministerial post.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64900403

[LeftishBrit]

4. Isabel Oakeshott: Who is the journalist behind Matt Hancock Covid messages leak?

...In 2015, she co-wrote a biography of David Cameron, Call Me Dave, which included the eye-catching but unsubstantiated claim that the then prime minister had taken part in a lurid initiation ceremony involving a dead pig's head while at university.

She got another politician in trouble when in 2011 she revealed that Liberal Democrat minister Chris Huhne had persuaded his wife Vicky Pryce to take his speeding points.

Mr Huhne was subsequently jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice (LB: and so was Pryce - that's what you get for trusting Oakeshott!)....


In 2019, the UK's ambassador to the United States Sir Kim Darroch was forced to resign after Ms Oakeshott obtained emails in which he was critical of Donald Trump...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64821983

[T_i_B]

5. And now Hancock's been caught being stupid yet again

Link to tweet

?t=H5loGoRqeQi2RF6PZRxmoA&s=19

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/25/top-tory-mps-ask-for-10000-a-day-to-work-for-fake-korean-company?CMP=twt_gu&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium#Echobox=1679769968

The former chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and former health secretary, Matt Hancock, agreed to work for £10,000 a day to further the interests of a fake South Korean firm after apparently being duped by the campaign group Led by Donkeys.

Kwarteng attended a preliminary meeting at his parliamentary office and agreed in principle to be paid the daily rate after saying he did not require a “king’s ransom”. When Hancock was asked his daily rate, he responded: “It’s 10,000 sterling.”

Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, also attended an online meeting for the fake foreign firm from his parliamentary office. When asked about the limits on arranging meetings, he made clear he could not advocate on behalf of the interest but said he may be able to advise the firm on who to approach in government. He said a rate of about £6,000 a day “feels about right” and any payments would be on a public register.

The purported firm that approached the politicians did not exist and had a rudimentary foreign website with fake testimonials. MPs have been warned by the Home Office to be on their guard against the “threat of foreign interference”, and the group’s investigation demonstrated the ease with which they seemed able to gain access to the MPs.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Hancock and Kwarteng: two idiots

i wouldn't mind a daily rate of 10 thousand quid!