Matt Hancock branded teaching unions 'absolute a**es' in WhatsApps

Matt Hancock branded teaching unions ‘absolute a**es’ in leaked WhatsApp messages with then-education secretary Gavin Williamson – who claimed teachers ‘hate work’ and were looking for ‘an excuse’ for time off during the pandemic

• The ex-ministers made the comments in May 2020 as schools prepared to open
• Messages also reveal conversations over care home testing for the virus
• A spokesperson for Mr Hancock said messages have been ‘spun with an agenda’ 

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock branded teaching unions ‘absolute a**es’ in leaked WhatsApp messages to then-Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who added they ‘hate work’ and claimed teachers were looking for ‘an excuse’ not to teach.

The ministers made the comments in May 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, as teachers prepared to re-open schools, according to the latest tranche of leaked messages published by The Telegraph.

The paper received more than 100,000 WhatsApps from Mr Hancock’s communications after ghostwriter of his Pandemic Diaries Isabel Oakeshott shared the material with the paper.

Mr Hancock messaged Sir Gavin to congratulate him on a decision to delay A-level exams for a few weeks – as teachers prepared to re-open schools after the first lockdown in May.

‘Cracking announcement today. What a bunch of absolute a**es the teaching unions are,’ he wrote. 

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured) branded teaching unions ‘absolute a**es’ in leaked WhatsApp messages published last night, sent to then-Education Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson

Sir Gavin (pictured) added unions ‘hate work’ and claimed teachers were looking for ‘an excuse’ not to teach

Sir Gavin responded: ‘I know they really really do just hate work.’

Mr Hancock responded with two laughing emojis, and a third which showed a dart on the centre of a target. 

Sir Gavin later added: ‘Some [schools] will just want to say they can’t [open] so they have an excuse to avoid having to teach, what joys!!!’

Following the messages’ publication, the former education secretary tweeted that his comments had been ‘about some unions and not teachers’.

He added: ‘I have the utmost respect for teachers who work tirelessly to support students.

‘During the pandemic, teachers went above and beyond during very challenging times and very much continue to do so.’ 

The paper also highlighted an exchange between Mr Hancock and one of his aides from December 2020, in which he said they needed to fight a ‘rear-guard action’ to prevent a ‘policy car crash’ when children returned to the classrooms in January.

The messages between Mr Hancock and Emma Dean, a special adviser, were exchanged during a Zoom meeting in which Sir Gavin convinced the prime minister the January reopening should go ahead, despite concerns about the second Covid wave gripping the country.

Ms Dean said the education secretary was ‘freaking out’, adding: ‘You can tell he isn’t being wholly rationale. Just by his body language.’

Mr Hancock replied: ‘I’m having to turn the volume down.’

He also described the plan to keep schools open as ‘mad’ and described the former minister as ‘going absolutely gangbusters’. 

At the end of the meeting, Mr Hancock said: ‘I want to find a way, Gavin having won the day, of actually preventing a policy car crash when the kids spread the disease in January. And for that we must now fight a rear-guard action.’

On January 4, after many younger children had returned to classes for a single day, Mr Johnson announced schools would close and exams would be cancelled amid a second national lockdown

Read more: Boris Johnson appears tense in first public appearance since the leak of 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent at the height of the coronavirus pandemic by ghostwriter of Matt Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries 

The Telegraph said the messages show he then contacted Dan Rosenfield, Mr Johnson’s chief of staff, to begin his attempt to have schools closed before children returned, providing him with his private email address.

On January 4, after many younger children had returned to classes for a single day, Mr Johnson announced schools would close and exams would be cancelled amid a national lockdown. They did not reopen until March 8, 2021.

In a separate article for The Telegraph, Sir Gavin said that he had considered quitting over the decision as he was so unhappy.

He wrote: ‘It was absolutely crushing. It was one of the worst moments of the entire pandemic.’ 

Sir Gavin added: ‘Looking back now, I wonder whether I should have resigned at that point. I certainly thought long and deeply over whether I should have gone then. I just felt so personally upset about it.’

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said: ‘Tonight’s [Wednesday’s] revelations are exactly like last night’s. These are partial accounts, obviously spun with an agenda.

‘They show Matt was focused throughout on saving lives. The right place for a full assessment is the (official Covid) inquiry.’

It is the second night of revelations published in the paper after the first edition of its ‘Lockdown Files’ on Tuesday night.

Yesterday Ms Oakeshott confirmed that she had broken an non-disclosure agreement with Mr Hancock – although she argued that her action was overwhelmingly in the ‘public interest’.

She acknowledged however that he was not happy at what she had done.

‘I received a somewhat menacing message from him at 1.20 in the morning,’ she told TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored.

‘I think he is extremely troubled about how to respond to this, but this is not about him.’

The Telegraph previously revealed conversations with Matt Hancock about care home testing, the use of face masks and efficacy of shielding. 

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