UK Information Watchdog Says ‘Lockdown Files’ Expose Issues With Public Record Keeping

A young girl paints a picture of herself on the school window as children of key workers take part in school activities at Oldfield Brow Primary School in Altrincham, England, on April 8, 2020. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The tens of thousands of leaked WhatsApp messages among government ministers and officials during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need to update rules around public record-keeping, the UK’s information watchdog said on Friday.

Writing in The Telegraph, Information Commissioner John Edwards said the newspaper’s revelation of how decisions were made on WhatsApp showed the need to review how private messaging apps are used in government in order to properly maintain the public record and ensure transparency and accountability.

The Lockdown Files

Since Feb. 28, The Telegraph has published more than 30 stories based on 100,000 WhatsApp messages it exclusively obtained from journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who had been given access to the messages by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock when he enlisted Oakeshott’s help to co-write a book called “Pandemic Diaries.”