Who is Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who broke an NDA to leak Matt Hancock’s WhatsApps?
Isabel Oakeshott has admitted she didn’t tell Matt Hancock she was going to leak 100,000 of his WhatsApp messages before sharing them with the Daily Telegraph.
The Brexiteer journalist and political commentator has passed on more than 2.3 million words from exchanges the former health secretary and his colleagues had about COVID policy at the height of the pandemic.
Her leak broke the non-disclosure agreement she signed that promised she would only use the messages on background to ghost write Mr Hancock’s book, Pandemic Diaries.
She has vehemently defended her decision, which she claims is “overwhelmingly” in the public interest – as she believes the inquiry into the government response to the pandemic will take far too long to achieve genuine justice.
But her reported breach of contract has led to criticism from Conservative MPs and journalists – particularly in light of other controversies she has been involved in.
From King Charles’s school to political journalist
Ms Oakeshott was born in Westminster in the mid-1970s before moving to Scotland.
She attended fee-paying schools St George’s in Edinburgh and Gordonstoun in Moray – where both King Charles and his father the Duke of Edinburgh went.
After graduating with a history degree from the University of Bristol she moved back to Scotland to begin her journalism career in local newspapers.
In the early 2000s she moved to London to be the Evening Standard’s health correspondent.
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Three years later she took her first steps into political journalism and joined the Sunday Times, where in 2010 she was made political editor and in 2011 she was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Press Awards.
A year-long stint as the Daily Mail’s political editor-at-large followed before jobs at GB News presenting her show The Briefing with Isabel Oakeshott in 2021 and as TalkTV’s international editor from mid-2022.
She has three children and was previously married to the American Nigel Rosser. She has since been in a long-term relationship with Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party.
Matt Hancock’s book is the 10th she has worked on.
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Following the publication of The Lockdown Files in The Telegraph, Mr Hancock accused Ms Oakeshott of a “massive betrayal and breach of trust”.
But many of his former Tory colleagues have questioned his decision to entrust her with the archive – even with legal protection.
In 2011 when she was working at The Sunday Times she agreed to write a story about Vicky Pryce – the ex-wife of former Liberal Democrat minister Chris Huhne, who Ms Pryce had separated from following an affair.
Ms Pryce told Ms Oakeshott she had taken points on her driving licence for a speeding offence Mr Huhne committed.
She discussed with Ms Oakeshott over email how they might report the story to discredit Mr Huhne.
But the front-page article that materialised led to the Crown Prosecution Service revisiting the incident, requesting the email exchanges, and ultimately both Ms Pryce and Mr Huhne being sentenced to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice.
Isabel Oakeshott arrives at Southwark Crown Court for R v Huhne
In 2015 she co-authored a biography of then-prime minister David Cameron with the Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft.
He had felt let down by Mr Cameron, having donated millions to the 2015 election campaign only to be denied a top job in his coalition government.
The book, Call Me Dave, failed to have major success and was largely remembered for the claim Mr Cameron engaged in a sex act with a dead pig while at Oxford University.
He fiercely denied it and Ms Oakeshott later admitted she only had one source to back the allegation up.
“It’s my judgment that the MP was not making it up, although I accept there was a possibility he could have been slightly deranged,” she told a book festival audience.
As an ardent Brexiteer, in 2016 she helped write Arron Banks’s book The Bad Boys of Brexit on his account of the EU referendum.
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Hancock rejects COVID test claims
The Leave.EU founder gave her his texts and emails from the time, which Ms Oakeshott later published in the Sunday Times, revealing he had far more dealings with Russian officials than he had previously admitted.
Three years later in 2019 she wrote a series of articles in the Mail on Sunday that revealed the UK ambassador to the United States Sir Kim Darroch had described Donald Trump’s presidency as “inept” and “utterly dysfunctional”.
He was forced to resign, conceding his position had become untenable.
But following the saga there were claims the story had not been hers – and instead the work of a teenage freelance journalist called Steven Edginton – who was involved with the Brexit Party and had wanted to stay anonymous to avoid any repercussions.
Hancock and Oakeshott have ‘absolutely nothing in common’
During the pandemic, she quickly declared herself a lockdown-sceptic, claiming that outside of clinical environments face masks are merely “political” and “nothing to do with genuine infection control”.
After Mr Hancock’s lockdown-breaking affair with aide Gina Coladangelo forced him to resign, Ms Oakeshott worked with him on his memoir for a year.
She has claimed she wasn’t paid for her work, saying it was “richly rewarding in other ways”.
Matt Hancock and Isabel Oakeshott. Pic: Parsons Media
But soon after its publication in December last year, Ms Oakeshott wrote a piece for The Spectator alluding to her motives in co-authoring the book.
In it she admitted the pair have “almost nothing in common” and that they “fundamentally disagree” over how COVID should have been dealt with.
‘I broke NDA, but it wasn’t personal’
She hinted: “Journalists don’t only interrogate people they disagree with. Quite the reverse.
“What better way to find out what really happened… than to align myself with the key player?”
Mr Hancock says his leaked messages have been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda” and denies he “ignored” advice to test all people entering care homes in England.
When asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if Ms Oakeshott warned the former minister about her plans to leak the messages, she said: “I didn’t tell him.”
She added in a statement: “Hard though it may be for him to believe, this isn’t about Matt Hancock, or indeed any other individual politician. Nor is it about me.
“We were all let down by the response to the pandemic and repeated unnecessary lockdowns.
“I make no apology whatsoever for acting in the national interest: the worst betrayal of all would be to cover up these truths.”
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
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GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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