The Treasury Department faced a backlash today over a “toneless” social media post showcasing the country’s biggest budget announcements.
Just hours after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled his catalog of major moves, his department shared a mock version of a group chat with the caption: “BREAKING NEWS: Spring Budget WhatsApp files leaked.”
All the messages were fake texts broadcast from other parts of Whitehall, including the Departments of Education, Transport and Works and Pensions.
It was an ironic reference to the bombshell leak of Matt Hancock’s personal messages.
A treasure trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApps from the former Health Secretary’s tenure during Covid has been handed over to the Daily Telegraph.
The post, sourced from the Treasury Department’s official Twitter account, presents the key messages of the government’s spring budget as a WhatsApp leak in apparent reference to the bombshell of Fort Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s personal messages
Texts allegedly show Mr Hancock has rejected calls to test all residents going to English care homes for Covid and discussed how the pandemic could “boost” his career.
The catalog of revelations sparked anger among Brits, with some calling for the former Health Secretary to be investigated by police.
However, Mr Hancock’s team vehemently denies allegations made in the wake of the WhatsApp leaks, saying they are one-sided and lacking a lot of context.
The Treasury Department’s attempt to capitalize on the controversy to boost Mr Hunt’s budget sparked fury on social media.
One Twitter commenter who claims to be a Labor supporter said: “Blowing the spotlight on one’s party smut isn’t exactly a conventional form of publicity.”
Another added: “Thank you for showing the current government has a total disregard for basic standards in public office. You think the Hancock stuff was just a little joke.”
It is not known who approved the ad, but the Treasury Department is headed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who unveiled the budget in the House of Commons today
The ad ends with a fake message from No10 with an animated image of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak celebrating the budget release.
The text accompanying the post encourages users to share the “leaked scoop” with their friends and family.
Multiple Twitter usages described the entire ad as “twitching,” “scurved toes,” “embarrassing,” with one question: “Where’s your dignity?”
Twitter user George Jones added: “Who unsubscribed that? One of the most unmusical things I’ve ever seen.’
MailOnline has reached out to the Treasury for comment.
MailOnline has not seen the full WhatsApp exchange between Mr Hancock and other officials and so cannot confirm the context.
The news was originally leaked by Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who helped Mr Hancock write his book Pandemic Diaries.
Mr Hancock’s spokesman said the WhatsApp exchange represented a “completely partial account” and that “the right place to look objectively at anything about the pandemic is in the public enquiry”.
KEY CLAIMS OF THE LOCKDOWN FILES INVESTIGATION
A fresh cache of 100,000 text and WhatsApp messages leaked to the Daily Telegraph by the ex-journalist who wrote Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries claimed:
- Matt Hancock rejected the chief medical officer’s call for all residents going to English care homes to be tested for Covid
- A minister in Mr Hancock’s department said the restrictions on visitors to care homes were “inhumane” but residents remained isolated many months later
- Mr Hancock’s adviser arranged for the courier service to carry out a personal test for Jacob Rees-Mogg’s child at a time of national shortage
- Mr Hancock told former Chancellor George Osborne, then editor of the Evening Standard: “I WANT TO ACHIEVE MY GOAL!” as he pushed for favorable front-page coverage
- Mr Hancock has reportedly met his target of 100,000 tests a day by counting kits that were sent out before the deadline but may never have been processed
- Social Affairs Secretary Helen Whately told Mr Hancock the testing system “definitely works” after she managed to secure a test “only” 50 miles from where she lives.
- Mr Osborne warned Mr Hancock in late 2020 that “nobody thinks testing is going well”.
- Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed he was going “quietly mad” over the UK’s shortage of testing kits
- Face masks have been introduced in school corridors and common areas after the Prime Minister was told he would avoid a “quarrel” with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
- Matt Hancock took rear-guard action to close schools after former Education Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson persuaded the Prime Minister to keep them open in January 2021
- Sir Gavin said teachers were looking for an “excuse” not to work during the pandemic
- Ministers said there was “no solid justification” for imposing the “rule of six” on children, but did so anyway
- Students with false positive results on a lateral flow test were required to isolate at home for 10 days, even if they were negative on a PCR test, to avoid the policy being “voted out”.
- The Prime Minister feared he had “blinked too soon” as he plunged Britain into a second Covid lockdown after being warned the murky modeling that put him in the move was “very wrong”.
- Mr Johnson was keen to ease restrictions on retail, hospitality and gatherings in June 2020 but was told he was “too far ahead of public opinion”.
- Mr Hancock and senior official Simon Case joked about travelers being “locked up” in quarantine hotels during the Covid lockdown
- The minister said the government should “get heavy with the police” to crack down on the rule-breakers of Covid lockdowns
- Mr Hancock’s team asked if they could “lock up” Nigel Farage after he posted a video of himself in a pub as they suspected he was breaking the rules
- The former health secretary hoped the pandemic would “propel” his career “into the next league” and said he thought he “looked great” in a picture in a MailOnline article.
- Mr Hancock described Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme as “eating to help the virus move around” and lobbied officials not to extend the scheme
- Mr Hancock clashed with the Treasury, called Steve Barclay, now Health Secretary, a “w***er” and accused Mr Sunak of “sticking the ankle to the hard right” by warning of a second national lockdown
- In the hours after his affair with married assistant Gina Coladangelo became public, he said the worst thing they could be accused of was kissing “before they legalized hugs.”
- Ministers sought to remove NHS England boss Lord Stevens, saying only after Covid was first detected, saying it would be a ‘massive improvement’.
- Mr Hancock planned to sack Sir Jeremy Farrar, who is now the WHO’s top scientist, “worse than useless” and “completely loudmouthed” from SAGE
- Mr Hancock planned when news of a new Covid variant would be “seated” to “put the pants off” the public to comply with lockdown rules
- The former health secretary called the government’s vaccine czar, Dame Kate Bingham, “completely unreliable” and “insane” after she said only the vulnerable needed to be vaccinated against Covid
- Mr Hancock wanted to be the face of the vaccine launch and planned to do media rounds and ‘own’ the news about the Covid vaccinations.
- Mr Hancock tried to hide that he would be taking Ms Coladangelo to a dinner with the US Secretary of Health
- Sir Chris advised ministers not to enforce the sex ban during the pandemic
- Sir Chris told ministers Covid vaccinations could not be rushed in the early days of the pandemic because the virus was not deadly enough
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
https://www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com/health-news/chancellors-officials-trolling-matt-hancock-after-treasury-leaks-its-whatsapps-about-budget/ Chancellor’s officials ‘troll’ Matt Hancock after Treasury Department ‘leaked’ his WhatsApps on the budget
