The UK’s most senior civil servant mocked travellers who were being “locked up” in quarantine hotels during the Covid pandemic, according to leaked WhatsApp messages published by the Telegraph.
In an exchange between Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and Matt Hancock, in February 2021, the then Health Secretary said they were “giving big families all the big suites and putting pop stars in the box rooms”.
Mr Case replied: “I just want to see some of the faces of people coming out of first class into a premier inn shoe box.”
A few days later, Mr Case asked how many people had been “locked up” in hotels the previous day.
Mr Hancock responded: “None. But 149 chose to enter the country and are now in Quarantine Hotels due to their own free will!” to which Mr Case replied: “Hilarious.”
The messages also suggested Mr Hancock wanted to “get heavy with the police” over the enforcement of lockdown regulations. After one meeting with Boris Johnson, he informed Mr Case: “The plod got their marching orders.”
In August 2021, one traveller complained that his Heathrow quarantine room was “infested with rats” as others told the Standard about poor meal options and strictly enforced 10-minute exercise sessions in the hotel car park.
A traveller giving his name as Anthony complained: “I am disgusted and shocked that such a health and safety hazard was allowed to take place in a Government quarantine hotel which is costing me £1,750.
“I feel sick knowing rats have been in my room while I’ve been in here. If this was any normal hotel the customer would be offered a full immediate refund. No one should have to pay £1,750 to stay in a sub-standard hotel for 10 days with a rat infestation.”
In other leaked messages, Priti Patel told Mr Hancock that her favourite stories were of would-be travellers hoping to get on the Eurostar with skis being stopped by border forces at St Pancras.
The next month, Mr Hancock shared a story with Mr Johnson about two people who were fined £10,000 for failing to quarantine after returning to the UK from Dubai, with the Prime Minister responding “superb”.
Mr Hancock has described the leak of tens of thousands of messages by journalist Isabel Oakeshott as a “massive betrayal” used to produce “a partial, biased account to suit an anti-lockdown agenda”.
