UK health chief’s leaked messages revive raw pandemic debate

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — COVID-19 has shot back into the headlines in Britain through the leak of more than 100,000 private messages sent or received by the health minister as the government scrambled to respond to the new respiratory virus. The words of former U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock in 2020 have revived painful debates about lockdowns and other government policies in a country that has seen more than 182,000 coronavirus deaths. The leaks have also sparked a debate about journalistic ethics. Hancock shared his WhatsApp messages with journalist Isabel Oakeshott as they worked on a book called “Pandemic Diaries.” Oakeshott then handed the messages to the Daily Telegraph newspaper which has used them for a series of front-page stories.