Thursday briefing: Will Hancock’s WhatsApp scandal change Westminster?

Good morning. Most people have been known to use their personal devices or messaging apps to communicate with colleagues. It’s not always best practice, but it’s usually not the end of the world. But what happens when those people have jobs that affect the lives of millions of people – and instead of taking a decision in formal channels, they’re firing off a quick WhatsApp message?

That’s one of the questions raised by the leak this week of more than 100,000 messages sent to and from then-health secretary Matt Hancock during the coronavirus crisis. The Daily Telegraph’s stories, based on a trove of messages provided by Hancock’s ghostwriter Isabel Oakeshott, give an insight into what was going through the minds of the most senior people in the country during the pandemic – and plenty of backbiting that would feel right at home in any group chat.

This morning, the latest batch of stories reveal debates about school closures and face masks – but also some deeply memorable one-liners: education secretary Gavin Williamson says that teaching unions “really do just hate work”. And Hancock himself suggests that Williamson looks in need of “a haircut and a holiday somewhere other than Scarborough!”.

Gossipy though some of the material is, the saga also tells us much about the way that the coronavirus crisis was handled – and raises questions about the balance between speed and accountability when the country is at least partly run from a smartphone. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Guardian political correspondent Aubrey Allegretti about “government by WhatsApp”. That’s right after the headlines.

Five big stories

In depth: ‘WhatsApp is in the lifeblood and the rhythm of Westminster’Matt Hancock checks his phone before appearing on the BBC political programme The Andrew Marr Show in London on 15 March 2020. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/AFP/Getty Images

***What are the rules?

There are some guidelines in government for the use of instant messaging platforms, Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said yesterday. It is “entirely within the rules” and “part and parcel of modern government” to “discuss government business over text messages or WhatsApp” – but “the requirement is that substantive decisions are communicated to [ministers’] private offices”.

We can’t tell from the Telegraph’s stories how carefully the latter condition was followed – but in general, it’s clear that those rules may leave ambiguity about where discussion ends and decision-making begins.

“The problem is that Whitehall is quite slow to adapt to new and emerging technologies,” Aubrey explains. “When WhatsApp burst on to the scene there wasn’t much thought put into record keeping, or guidance on how decisions should be made and communicated”. And so, over time, the lines became increasingly blurred between personal and professional communication.

This was only further accelerated by the pandemic, when most officials were working remotely. “It became so much more important for ministers to be able to work incredibly quickly as they discussed and announced things almost simultaneously,” Aubrey adds.

Concerns have been raised in the past by transparency campaigners about whether messages are being deleted when they might shed light on big policy decisions later: in 2021, it emerged that ministers and civil servants were required by policy to set instant messaging chats to delete automatically. (Clearly, that didn’t happen here.) In general, it’s difficult to police WhatsApp use on personal phones when the people using them are in a job that can require round the clock availability. However, without any checks, information can be easily lost – or, as in this case, later released without context.

Have platforms like WhatsApp changed the way the government makes decisions?

Private correspondence and backdoor conversations have always shaped the decisions that ministers make. But the widespread use of messaging apps has made transparency and accountability even more difficult, especially as their speed increases the risk of spreading incomplete information.

Aubrey says that things have calmed down since the Johnson administration, where “some politicians and their advisers liked to fly by the seat of their pants and use WhatsApp more intensively for decision-making … That’s not to say that WhatsApp isn’t still used a lot for information sharing or offering advice, but it’s probably moved back to more of a rigid structure and more sensible approach to using it as a technology.”

Lord Bethell, a former health minister, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme yesterday that he did not believe that serious decisions had been taken on the hoof over WhatsApp. “This is not how government is run,” he said. “Business was done very formally with meeting notes, with policy recommendations … that is how the machinery of government works.”

Will the Hancock story change anything?

While the political context is no longer as fraught or turbulent as under Johnson or Truss, the centrality of WhatsApp in government cannot be overestimated, says Aubrey: “It’s in the lifeblood and the rhythm of Westminster – there’s probably an unhealthy amount of that people rely on it.” It’s worth noting that much of the discussion of the use of WhatsApp in politics reflects leaks of gossipy interactions in backbench MPs’ chat groups – a very different thing, with naturally looser rules, than the business of government.

While there will be scrutiny of the use of messaging platforms as a result of these stories and during the coronavirus inquiry, it seems unlikely that there will be substantive change. “I think given the high-profile issues going on at the moment like strikes and the cost of living, the government won’t be keen to be seen falling into internal debates about how it communicates internally,” Aubrey said.

Even as campaigners continue to call for greater accountability, if ministers are now more likely to use disappearing messages or to erase their histories for fear of being caught out, it may be that transparency around decision-making will be harder to be sure of in the future.

It could be years until we find out what the true impact of this change in communication is, but until then, as one MP aptly put on their WhatsApp status, according to Aubrey, we will be “ready for the leaks”.

What else we’ve been readingLiving in a country that no longer sells tomatoes? Just make white pizza. Photograph: Juanmonino/Getty Images

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SportAzeem Rafiq (centre) arrives for the CDC panel hearing at the International Arbitration Centre, London. Photograph: James Manning/PA

Cricket | The England and Wales Cricket Board has set out its case against former England bowler Matthew Hoggard, alleging that he used racist and/or discriminatory language during the 2008 cricket season against Azeem Rafiq and other Asian players in the team. Hoggard is one of six Yorkshire players who have been charged with racism by the ECB.

Sport | Manchester United had a late comeback against West Ham, securing a 3-1 victory with Alejandro Garnacho scoring in the 90th minute. Grimsby, the lowest-ranked team left in the Cup, inflicted one of the biggest shocks in FA cup history, beating Southampton 2-1, allowing them to reach the quarter finals for the first time in 84 years. Meanwhile, Iliman Ndiaye’s solo goal secured Sheffield United a 1-0 win against Tottenham.

Cricket | Dawid Malan’s impressive performance led England, 212-7, to a hard fought victory against Bangladesh, 209, in the first of a three‑game ODI series.

The front pages

The Guardian leads this morning with “Confidence in Covid inquiry hit after leak of Hancock messages”. The front-page picture is from the rail disaster in Greece. “Sickened by Hancock’s messages” – the response, says the Metro, of victims’ families to the WhatsApp leak. More of that leak gushes out in the Telegraph: “Hancock’s ‘rearguard action’ to shut down schools”. The Daily Mirror has “The tragic betrayal … Families’ fury as Hancock texts reveal Covid blunders”. “Harry and Meghan rage at ‘cruel’ eviction” – said rage is channelled into the Daily Express via “one of their closest allies” according to that paper. “We’re orf … stunned Harry and Meg must pack bags after the coronation” – the Sun mocks up a Frogmore Cottage eviction notice and calls its coverage of the story “A Megxit and Frogxit exclusive”. “NHS plan to help millions stop using antidepressants” – that’s the Times today. “Carrie: keep killer pilot behind bars” says the Daily Mail alongside a picture of Boris Johnson’s wife alongside Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna was bludgeoned to death. Thursday’s i says “UK chickens may get jabs to stop bird flu spread in humans”. The top story in the Financial Times is “Bailey seeks to take heat out of market expectations for further rate increases” and there’s a picture slot for the Nigerian election result.

Today in Focus Photograph: David Maxwell/EPA

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A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

Socialist youth brigades, Santiago, 1973. Photograph: Marcelo Montecino/FlickrVision

The Chilean playwright and author Ariel Dorfman feared the worst when he was arrested for daubing the streets of Santiago in graffiti in support of the democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende.

But far from the beating he was expecting, the sergeant who arrested Dorfman and his co-conspirators “gently informed us that we were under arrest”, writes the man behind Death and the Maiden. “[W]ith the utmost courtesy, we were locked in a large cell already brimming with other pro-Allende supporters who had been caught that night.”

Things had changed since Allende had won the presidency in 1970. “And so, instead of nursing wounds, we spent the night discussing our young, nonviolent revolution.”

It would not last however. Six months later, Allende was dead. But, writing for the Guardian five decades after the coup that overthrew Allende, Dorfman suggested that that night he had glimpsed a more humane society. “What my experience 50 years ago continues to fiercely and gently tell me, like a phantom that will not fade, is that it doesn’t need to be like this.”

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