Downing Street suspected Matt Hancock was the “chatty rat” who leaked details to the media of the second lockdown, private messages newly-released by the Covid inquiry have revealed.
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case sent a text message to Sir Chris Wormald, the top civil servant at the Department of Health, saying Mr Hancock was in the “sights” of No 10 for alleged blame for the leak.
Boris Johnson was forced to bring forward the announcement of the month-long second Covid lockdown in November 2020 after the plans were briefed to some newspapers.
It triggered a six-month Whitehall-wide hunt for the so-called “chatty rat”, but the leaker was never identified. At the time, Mr Hancock denied involvement in the leak and in his memoirs he said he believed Dominic Cummings was responsible.
Mr Case’s messages also lift the lid on the fierce battle that took place earlier that autumn between Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor, over whether to impose fresh measures to curb a second wave of Covid cases, including a possible two-week “circuit breaker” or varying local restrictions through the tiering system.
On 31 October 2020, the day Mr Johnson announced the second lockdown, Mr Case wrote in a message to Sir Chris: “Annct [announcement] being brought fwd to today because of this leak.
“No 10 crew have Matt in their sights over the leak, by the way. It was certainly one of a very small number of people!”
Sir Chris replied with details of arrangements for the announcement, stressing that Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance would need to be at the Downing St press conference alongside Mr Johnson.
The Covid inquiry has not published the rest of the exchange, so his reaction to No 10 suspecting Mr Hancock as being the “chatty rat” is not known.
The message exchanges also reveal consternation from Mr Case that Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak and the then health secretary were all blaming each other for briefing the media about the government’s tiering system.
On 10 October 2020, Mr Case told Sir Chris: “The briefing is insane. The accusations flying between PM, Matt and Rishi for who is responsible for that is quite something to behold!”
A few days earlier, amid discussions inside government about the possibility of a “circuit breaker” or tiering system to curb the rise in cases, there were signs that Mr Sunak was resisting any moves – apparently due to the impact on the economy.
The top civil servants discussed how the resistance from the then chancellor and Tory backbenchers to fresh restrictions would only lead to a full lockdown further down the line.
Mr Case messaged Sir Chris Wormald on 7 October: “Rishi pushing back hard on everything tonight. Patience needed. And a deep breath.”
Sir Chris replied: “No surprises there then. They have a serious job to do with their back benches too to land this.”
Mr Case then said: “Rishi’s view is that they won’t land it,” to which Sir Chris replied: “He may well be right in the short term. Eventually the pressure of the numbers will win out, but possibly too late for our measures to be effective.
“In which case national lockdown will be the only place left to go.”
The Cabinet Secretary said this was “almost precisely what I’ve just said to the PM. Perfectly legitimate choice not to act now, but you have to own and acknowledge risk that you have to do an awful lot more later.”
On 9 October, Mr Case apologised for not replying to an earlier message from Sir Chris, saying that the “last 48hrs has been horrendous negotiation with everyone in No10/11″.
He continued: “I think we have planes coming into land today, though. Rishi opening cheque-book.”
The tiering system was announced on 14 October, with the government providing extra money for councils that were being placed under stricter Tier 3 measures.
Jack Doyle, Mr Johnson’s former communications director, has revealed to the inquiry that the level of leaking to the media during the pandemic hampered the government’s ability to plan public health messaging.
In his written statement to Lady Hallett’s inquiry, Mr Doyle said: “This communication challenge was amplified by the fact that we were operating in a global 24/7 news media environment in which social media also played a very significant role in promoting misunderstanding, misinformation and conspiracy theories.
“Under those circumstances, it was hugely difficult for government to hold public attention and deliver a sustained message over time, although we had some successes. Some of this was compounded by the impact of leaks, which were so frequent and sustained that they made it very difficult to plan and prepare communications.”
Mr Case had been due to give evidence to the Covid inquiry over his role in the government’s pandemic response, but he has taken a medical leave of absence from his post.