Matt Hancock leaks: why WhatsApp is a terrible place to conduct important political conversations

By Caroline Tagg, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and English Language, The Open University

The leak of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages exchanged between former health secretary Matt Hancock and his contacts has finally exposed the central role the messaging app has come to play in official government business.

A selection of the messages published by The Telegraph – a newspaper with an anti-lockdown stance – shows Hancock apparently dismissing advice on testing in care homes and wanting to

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