''Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain's Battle Against Covid'' is a 2022 book by

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 20 ...

, a Conservative Party politician, and

Isabel Oakeshott Isabel Oakeshott (born 12 June 1974) is a British political journalist. Oakeshott was the political editor of ''The Sunday Times'' and is the co-author, with Michael Ashcroft, of an unauthorised biography of former British prime minister Dav ...

, a right-wing political journalist, about Hancock's tenure as

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Departmen ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It is published by

Biteback Biteback Publishing is a British publisher based in Hull, and concentrating mainly on political titles. It was incorporated, as a private limited company with share capital, in 2009. It was jointly owned by its managing director Iain Dale and ...

Synopsis

The book was not based on a diary but was written after the fact based on Hancock's recollections as well his records of communications. It dismisses allegations that moving patients into care homes caused deaths arguing that the staff in care homes were the vector of disease. The book is critical of

Dominic Cummings Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 24 July 2019 until he resigned on 13 November 2020. From 2007 to 2014, he was a speci ...

Publication and reception

In April 2022, it was announced that Hancock would publish his diaries during the COVID-19 pandemic called ''Pandemic Diaries'' with

Biteback Publishing Biteback Publishing is a British publisher based in Hull, and concentrating mainly on political titles. It was incorporated, as a private limited company with share capital, in 2009. It was jointly owned by its managing director Iain Dale and ...

, cowritten by

. The royalties were planned to be donated to NHS charities. The book was to be released in December 2022. Reviews comment that the book presented too positive an image, making Hancock seem unduly prescient with the benefit of

hindsight Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were. After an event has occurred, people often believe ...

, arguing there may be elements of revisionism.

Gaby Hinsliff Gabrielle Seal Hinsliff (born 4 July 1971) is an English journalist and columnist for ''The Guardian''. Early life and career Born in Chelmsford she is one of the daughters of the actor Geoff Hinsliff. She attended Queens' College, Cambridge, ...

reviewing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' said that there were kernels of truth about how politicians make decisions in the account but comments on how the book was written with the benefit of hindsight, allowing Hancock to make himself seem prescient. Rod Dacombe writing in the ''i'' said that was absurd and devoid of literary flair.

Adam Wagner Adam Wagner is a Doughty Street Chambers barrister, a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's panel of counsel. In 2019 he represented the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) in its case a formal investigation under section 20 of t ...

, writing in ''Prospect'' magazine, said that the book had a focus on score settling and self-aggrandisation but that there were some genuine revelations, noting that more will be known when the UK Covid-19 Inquiry reports. Wagner argues Hancock's removal of exceptions for protest from proposed lockdown regulations on the grounds that protests could undermine public trust in measures and his criticism of protestors in the book are suggestive that protests were banned based on the political views of protestors, which Wagner thinks would likely constitute government overreach.

WhatsApp messages

Oakeshott leaked some of the private WhatsApp messages she had access to in a ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' article published in February 2023. One message from April 2020 suggests Hancock told aides that professor

Chris Whitty Sir Christopher John MacRae Whitty (born 21 April 1966) is a British epidemiologist, serving as Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019. Whitty was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department ...

had done "an "evidence review" and recommended "testing of all going into care homes, and segregation whilst awaiting result". Hancock allegedly stated this was a "good positive step". Later, Hancock allegedly stated he would rather avoid a commitment to test all people going into care homes from the community and "just commit to test & isolate ALL going into care from hospital". A spokesman for Hancock said, "These stolen messages have been doctored to create a false story that Matt rejected clinical advice on care home testing".

References

{{COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, state=collapsed 2022 in British politics Biteback Publishing books Books about the COVID-19 pandemic Books about British politicians Books about politics of the United Kingdom British autobiographies History of the Conservative Party (UK) Political scandals in the United Kingdom 2022 non-fiction books Media depictions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom Matt Hancock Boris Johnson controversies