The Lockdown Files: Episode 1, The Leak
Chopper's Politics
The Telegraph
4.2 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 21 July 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In January 2023, reporters at the Telegraph are called into a meeting. The newspaper has got something big.
Matt Hancock’s Whatsapps from when he was the Health Secretary, during the pandemic: 100,000 messages. The reporters start digging.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi listeners it's Louisa Wells here head of podcast at the Telegraph and |
| 0:03.9 | longtime producer of choppers politics we thought that as a listener of choppers |
| 0:08.2 | politics you might be interested in a new telegraph podcast that we've been |
| 0:11.8 | working on the lockdown files follows our |
| 0:14.2 | investigations team after they broke a huge story at the beginning of this year. |
| 0:18.1 | The Telegraph had obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Matt Hancock and some of the most senior people in government. |
| 0:26.0 | Join the Investigations team as they search for the full picture behind those messages |
| 0:30.0 | and speak to those involved in making the key decisions which affected all our lives. |
| 0:35.0 | Because the COVID inquiry may be underway, but you shouldn't have to wait years for answers. |
| 0:39.0 | Here's the first episode. We hope you find it interesting. |
| 0:45.0 | Anyone who has ever been in a WhatsApp group |
| 0:50.0 | will know those sounds well. |
| 0:53.0 | What's that is perfect when you're trying to plan a party. |
| 0:57.0 | Who's bringing them in spies at Christmas or finding your friends for a picnic in the park. |
| 1:03.0 | It's quick, informal and playful. |
| 1:06.0 | But what happens when the same chaotic back and forth |
| 1:10.0 | is used at the highest levels of government? |
| 1:12.0 | I'm Claire Newell, the investigation's... is used at the highest levels of government. |
| 1:13.0 | I'm Claire Newell, the investigations editor at the Telegraph. |
| 1:17.0 | In December 2022, one of the editors called me into their office. |
| 1:21.0 | They had something big. |
| 1:23.0 | They've been approached by a journalist called Isabel Oakshot. |
... |
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