Isabel Oakeshott, Matt Hancock and the ethics of the Lockdown Files
Telegraph series raises issues of public trust, whistleblowing and source protection for journalists
At face value, Isabel Oakeshott’s leak of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages entrusted to her by Matt Hancock appears to “confirm the popular misconception that journalists cannot be trusted”, said Dominic Ponsford, Press Gazette’s editor-in-chief.
Hancock, the former health secretary, gave the journalist access to his conversations so she could help ghostwrite his memoirs, Pandemic Diaries, published in December.
Now she has “burned him” and apparently broken a confidentiality agreement by sharing them with The Telegraph, which has published The Lockdown Files, said Ponsford in the media trade magazine.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Public interest
Hancock has accused Oakeshott of a “massive betrayal” and claimed there is “absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach” as the material for his book was given to the Covid-19 public inquiry.
Yes, it is a “clear breach of privacy”, said Ponsford, but Hancock “rather misses the wider context”. “In these particular circumstances it is difficult not to see how, ethically speaking, she is anything but a whistleblower who has acted in the public interest.”
This echoes the point Oakeshott made on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last week. She said: “Not one journalist worth their salt would sit on a cache of information in such an important matter, such a historic matter, and cover that up.”
She also suggested the Covid inquiry would take “many years” and could be a “colossal whitewash”, allegations rejected by its chair, Heather Hallett. Oakeshott said she was not paid to help write Hancock’s book, nor did The Telegraph pay directly for the messages, but she has not revealed any payment she received for her articles written as part of the exposé.
Perhaps it would have been “more responsible” to hand the messages over to a “non-partisan broadcaster”, argued Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster, on The Conversation.
“Instead, we are now seeing cherrypicked messages published piecemeal to further support the Telegraph’s own editorial position,” he wrote. And Oakeshott’s “apparent readiness to betray her source – whatever her stated justification – is likely to generate even more cynicism about an industry that already struggles to command public confidence”.
Protecting sources
“Talk about shooting the messenger,” said Joanna Williams in The Spectator. “In what moral universe is Oakeshott the problem and Hancock the victim?” she asked.
Oakeshott has become a scapegoat for journalists’ own “failure to hold the government to account”, shortcomings that have been revealed through the WhatsApp leak, she said.
The Editors’ Code of Practice does state “that journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information”, said media law consultant David Banks in The Guardian. But this “tends to be applied to people who fear being identified in relation to a story” rather than “government ministers who are writing a memoir of their time in office”.
The wider question, said Banks, is can you ever trust a journalist? “That depends on the journalist,” he said.
And Oakeshott has a “track record”, said Henry Mance in the Financial Times. “One of her previous sources went to jail; she is a lockdown sceptic and the partner of Richard Tice, leader of a pro-Brexit party that wants to ‘destroy’ the Conservatives.”
For Hancock, said Mance, “there are people who cannot read and write who would have been more appropriate ghostwriters”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Hollie Clemence is the UK executive editor. She joined the team in 2011 and spent six years as news editor for the site, during which time the country had three general elections, a Brexit referendum, a Covid pandemic and a new generation of British royals. Before that, she was a reporter for IHS Jane’s Police Review, and travelled the country interviewing police chiefs, politicians and rank-and-file officers, occasionally from the back of a helicopter or police van. She has a master’s in magazine journalism from City University, London, and has written for publications and websites including TheTimes.co.uk and Police Oracle.
-
Are climate conspiracy theories undermining disaster response?
Today's Big Question Meteorologists and FEMA workers have come under threat
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Pentagon grants ousted LGBTQ vets full benefits
Speed Read The new ruling will apply to more than 820 LGBTQ veterans
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US says Israel must up Gaza aid or risk arms halt
Speed Read The Biden administration has provided a 30-day ultimatum to the country
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bob Woodward's War: the explosive Trump revelations
In the spotlight Nobody can beat Watergate veteran at 'getting the story of the White House from the inside'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Trump kept up with Putin, sent Covid tests, book says
Speed Read The revelation comes courtesy of a new book by Bob Woodward
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Hyperbole and hatred: can heated rhetoric kill?
Talking Point Hypocrisy and double standards are certainly rife, but the link between heated political language and real-world violence is unclear
By The Week UK Published
-
Tax plans spell trouble in the North Sea
Talking Point Labour’s tax plans are whipping up a storm. Are the worries of opponents justified?
By The Week UK Published
-
On Leadership: why Tony Blair's new book has divided critics
Talking Point The former Labour leader has created a 'practical guide to good governance' but should Keir Starmer take note?
By The Week Staff Published
-
'The federal government's response to the latest surge has been tepid at best'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Why did the Secret Service fail to protect Trump?
Talking Point Secret Service under pressure to explain operational failures – and it's not the first time they’ve slipped up
By The Week UK Published
-
Iran: does Masoud Pezeshkian's election mark a turning point?
Talking Point New president is seen as a progressive but much will depend on how the US reacts
By The Week UK Published