Ministers and messages Questions over official information

The Cabinet Office should look into how departing ministers handle Whatsapp messages about government business, the information commissioner has said.

In a statement issued after the publication of the Lockdown Files, the watchdog said it would not be investigating

The Telegraph’s “retain and subsequently use official information” that need to be looked at by the Cabinet Office, the commissioner’s office said.

It comes as this newspaper obtained more than 100,000 Whatsapp messages between Matt

Hancock and other ministers and officials during the Covid crisis.

Downing Street earlier refused to comment on specific cases or security issues, saying it was for the Information Commissioner’s Office to investigate data protection issues.