Matt Hancock has claimed his “doctored” WhatsApp messages from the height of the pandemic have been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda”.

The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 messages between Mr Hancock and other ministers and officials, which form the basis of The Lockdown Files.

Revelations include his rejection of the advice of Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, to test for Covid all residents going into English care homes.

Mr Hancock was told by Prof Sir Chris Whitty on April 14, 2020, about a month into the pandemic, that there should be testing for “all going into care homes”.

However, he did not follow this guidance and despite initially telling civil servant Alan Nixon to “action” the advice, he said later that day it “muddies the waters”.

He instead introduced guidance that made testing mandatory for those entering care homes from a hospital setting, but not for those coming from the community.

'Distorted account'

A spokesman for Mr Hancock released three statements after the former health secretary's messages were handed to The Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, the political journalist who was given copies of his messages while working on his Pandemic Diaries memoir.

The spokesman said on Monday night: “It is outrageous that this distorted account of the pandemic is being pushed with partial leaks, spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of lives if followed.

“What the messages do show is a lot of people working hard to save lives. The full documents have already all been made available to the inquiry, which is the proper place for an objective assessment, so true lessons can be learned.”

In a second statement, the spokesman said: “Having not been approached in advance by the Telegraph, we have reviewed the messages overnight. The Telegraph intentionally excluded reference to a meeting with the testing team from the WhatsApp.

“This is critical, because Matt was supportive of Chris Whitty's advice, held a meeting on its deliverability, told it wasn’t deliverable, and insisted on testing all those who came from hospitals. The Telegraph have been informed that their headline is wrong, and Matt is considering all options available to him.

'Not currently possible' to test

“This major error by Isabel Oakeshott and the Telegraph shows why the proper place for analysis like this is the Inquiry, not a partial, agenda-driven leak of confidential documents."

The start of the Covid public inquiry was delayed last month by a secrecy row, as families of the bereaved complained about the names of civil servants being redacted from documents.

In a third statement, given to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the spokesman said Mr Hancock had “enthusiastically accepted” Sir Chris’s request for care home testing, but was “advised it was not currently possible to test everyone entering care homes” in a meeting later that day.

"Matt concluded that the testing of people leaving hospital for care homes should be prioritised because of the higher risks of transmission, as it wasn't possible to mandate [that] everyone going into care homes got tested [sic]."

“The Telegraph have doctored the messages by excluding a key line from the text by Alan Nixon. Nixon says ‘I wasn’t in testing meeting’, which changes the context of the meeting depicted in the article.

“The stolen messages have been doctored to create a full story that Matt rejected clinical advice on care home testing. This is flat wrong... The Telegraph story is wrong, based on partial, spun leaks - and they did not approach Matt before publication.”

'We all deserve to know'

A source close to Mr Hancock added he was “considering all options” with regards to Ms Oakeshott, the political journalist who was given copies of his messages while working with him on his Pandemic Diaries memoir.

“She's broken a legal NDA. Her behaviour is outrageous,” the source said.

Writing for The Telegraph on Tuesday night, Ms Oakeshott explained her reasons for making the information public, saying the public “absolutely cannot wait any longer for answers”.

She added on Twitter: “The Lockdown Files is the biggest leak of data involving the Government since the 2009 MPs’ expenses scandal, shedding new light on issues including care home deaths, lockdowns, testing, school closures and face masks. We all deserve to know.”

Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator magazine and a Telegraph columnist, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the messages were “not stolen, as Matt Hancock says, but given by him to Isabel Oakeshott, who was the ghostwriter of his memoirs”.

“She therefore came into possession of one of the most extraordinary sources ever to fall into the hands of journalists… This tells you what was being said behind closed doors during the time of the pandemic, in one of the most crucial parts of British history.

“She decided on balance that it was better to make these [messages] public because the millions of people affected by these decisions deserve answers, and this is what journalists do.”