United Kingdom Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case’s WhatsApp chats with then Minister for Health, Matt Hancock, during the COVID-19 crisis have been termed “unprofessional” “highly unusual’ and “a departure from normal standards”.
Mr Case’s correspondence with Mr Hancock, revealed in the Telegraph newspaper, shows the head of the Public Service saying it was “hilarious” that some travellers were being “locked up” in hotels after entering the UK.
He also described then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson in one message as a “nationally distrusted figure”, while referring to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s opposition to COVID restrictions on businesses as “going bonkers”.
In another exchange, Mr Hancock said Mr Johnson had called to discuss the number of COVID-19 cases.
Mr Case (pictured) responded: “I think it suits us well to have him still focus on these numbers. Helps keep him honest, I think.”
Jill Rutter, a former senior Public Servant who is now a fellow at the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, said the exchanges sounded too casual.
“I’m not sure even in a private office you would expect quite this degree of informality and chattiness,” Ms Rutter said.
One former Permanent Secretary said they were “not entirely surprised” but they regarded it as “unprofessional in the extreme” and could not imagine that kind of correspondence happening under former Cabinet Secretaries, Mark Sedwill or Jeremy Heywood.
They said there was typically a degree of distance between a Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Ministers, with any communications kept “friendly but formal”.
A friend of Mr Case said he was sure the Cabinet Secretary would be embarrassed by these remarks.
“However, they were made in the heat of the moment in the middle of a national crisis responding to a Cabinet Minister,” they said.
“They do not represent the full policy-making process.”
Current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said he had complete confidence in Mr Case.
London, 9 March 2023
