….have been deleted. The Times newspaper reports that National Clinical Director Jason Leitch’s messages cannot be handed over to official inquiries because he deleted them every day. It means there were none when a ‘do not destroy’ notice was issued [in 2022].
‘Scotland’s’ media are already underway with a no-doubt uncoordinated but culturally-disposed trend whereby the content of messaging and emails is used to associate even ‘accuse’ the SNP Government with/for any supposed failures in pandemic management. They will do this regardless of the factual evidence of better performance – fewer deaths – here than elsewhere in the UK.
Today, Reporting Scotland is headlining with suggestions that the What’sApp messages are being denied to the investigation without any reference to facts such as these below.
- From the Guardian in 2021: Ministers and civil servants [UK] are required by policy to set instant messaging chats to delete automatically, it has been revealed, as a judicial review over the government’s use of self-destructing messages was given the go-ahead. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/12/cabinet-policy-ministers-delete-whatsapp-messages
- From the Guardian in October 2023: Rishi Sunak has failed to hand over his WhatsApp messages from his time as chancellor to the Covid inquiry despite the high court ruling that ministers should disclose their communications for scrutiny. In his witness statement to the public inquiry, seen by the Guardian, the prime minister claimed that he did “not have access” to the messages during the period running the Treasury because he had changed his phone several times and failed to back them up.https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/02/sunak-fails-to-hand-whatsapp-messages-from-time-as-chancellor-to-covid-inquiry
- From as early as 2018, evidence that deleting messages was good security practice: WhatsApp calls itself fully encrypted but this does not make it un-hackable. Being the most widely used chat app. https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/tech-tips/story/tech-tips-how-to-know-your-whatsapp-account-has-been-hacked-and-tips-to-prevent-it-1267810-2018-06-23
- The ‘do not destroy’ instruction came only last year, two years after the pandemic began in early 2020.
The evidence that, even though the Scottish Government did not get control and only partial control over pandemic strategy, until months after Covid had spread everywhere, it still managed to ensure significantly lower infection and death rates and, critically, far lower infection and death rates in care home by getting the vaccine in those places first, unlike the UK Government.
I have it all in the TuS archives.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
There will be other records of the total mismanagement. The Tories spent £270Billion over two years on the pandemic. £370Billion over a lifetime. Mismanaged the pandemic to concentrate of Brexit. Losing £100Million a year on Brexit.
2019/2020 UK raised £817Billion in taxes and revenues. 20/21 £731Billion. Spends £1090Billion. Spends more in the rest of the UK £100Billion. Spends more pro rata.Scotland cannot borrow. Loses out £10Billion. Scotland raises £87Billion. Spends £54Billion. Westminster spends the rest £33Billion. Mismanaging and wasting it. UK/Scottish Gov accounts.
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I think the figure being lost due to England’s BREXIT per year, is in the £billions, not £millions…
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Quote.
I have it all in the TuS archives.
BBC Scotland will have them as well but that wont stop them smearing the SNP and Jason Leitch,the truth does no settle well with the anti SNP MSM.
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I hadn’t realised an auto-destruct policy for messaging was in force from Oct 2021 for civil servants.
Clearly the Times chose to ignore it when assembling the Leitch smokescreen to Johnson and Cummings embarrassments to be published today…
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Sorry but this annoys me intensely in the sense that once again it seems Humza has been wrong footed. He clearly new beforehand this was a hot topic and very likely to be raised at FMQ’s as he said in his response to DRoss that he had instructed the Sol Gen to investigate. So why why why he did he not come out with the above to counter the bad media aftermath? He could quite easily have thrown this question back at DRoss in the manner which you articulated and that would have more than likely been the end of the matter. Instead now we have the Scot Government dragged thro’ a hostile media just waiting for any crumbs that may come out of this Inquiry and already now throws suspicion on Sturgeon & Co that they are hiding something that is damning. I hate to say it but my doubts at Hamza being FM are being realised. To my mind he is too decent a person to cut the mustard that is needed for the position as FM.
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Give them enough rope as the saying goes
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I don’t do WhatsApp but my wife is a member of her sisters’ WhatsApp group. I was always under the impression that all WhatsApp messages within the group appeared on the screens of each sender and recipient. If I am correct in that assumption, would a member of the relevant WhatsApp groups to which Jason Leitch belonged who has actually saved their messages not have Jason’s contributions on his or her group messages?
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When deleting a message that you have sent in a WhatsApp group, you have the option of deleting it for yourself only or for everyone in the group who received a copy – although I believe that the latter has to be done within two days of the message being sent.
I would have thought that people such as Jason Leitch would be aware of that. I can’t say the same for his Tory counterparts though – they all appear to be cretins of the highest order.
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Very rich ‘cretins’ taking from the public purse massive sums while starving little children, driving millions into destitution, not simply poverty, but destitution which is the next step down from poverty. In 2023, that is nothing but criminal.
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Having now read the BBC News article today – ‘Jason Leitch deleted Covid WhatsApp messages – newspaper report’ – I see that the BBC is exploiting the opportunity to broaden a smear by including, by amplifying evidence-free and candidly, illogical claims made by a spokesperson for a Covid relatives group.
We read this: ‘(Named individual) from the Scottish Covid Bereaved Group told BBC Scotland’s The Nine it was “incredulous” that important WhatsApp message had been deleted’.
We’ll leave to one side the claim of ‘importance’. I suspect during most professional careers one would not delete DAILY – and retain no other record of – written communications of import! Few have photographic memories and perfect recall.
The article goes on: ‘Speaking before the news about Prof Leitch, she said she was “devastated” by reports that messages had been deleted.’
And goes on: “For the Scottish government to say they have deleted messages, they have not made notes at the most crucial of times when having sat in a meeting with the previous deputy first minister, alongside some of my Scottish Covid Bereaved colleagues and our legal representative – Mr Swinney may not have made notes but the civil servants surrounding him certainly did,” she said.’
Let’s unpick this: (i) what messages have been deleted?; (ii) deletion of messages (WhatsApp?) can in no way be taken to mean that ministers and officials did ‘not make notes’ at any time, including the ‘most crucial of times’; and (iii) notwithstanding her implied accusations, she offers up evidence from her own eyes that ‘notes’ of a meeting were taken. And does she really think it odd that a minister, presumably chairing the meeting, may not have been taking notes?
And the BBC article has this final effort to squeeze another drop of negativity: “It is beyond belief that in the most crucial of times there would be no note taking. I’m devastated by it”.
“No note taking” – so so NO notes, so the Inquiries are being sent NOTHING?
Here BBC journalism has abandoned any semblance of critical thinking in the choice and composition of its output. No doubt the opportunity to smear by proxy was too good to resist!
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Yes indeed, a huge distraction from the EngGovs’ Covid inquiry, which appears to have seriously negated their utterly disgusting mismanagement at the time, ending in them actually cashing in from a pandemic, making money from the terrible situation where people died, many who could have been saved. Those in EngGov at the time should be taken to court for failing to protect the people they are meant to represent.
So the named individual is speaking personally or for her group? ‘Devastated’ being used to make it a very emotive issue for her, rather than in an professional capacity. Yes as you say, a smear by proxy.
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What about Tory peer Lord Bethell
He used multiple excuses for not handing over his phone via WhatsApp messages.
1. Lost his phone.
2. Broke his phone
3. Gave phone to a family member
Fourth excuse should have been wanted to WITHHOLD phone messages as could leave him and his party compromised via the content of the messages…..as in damming evidence of what they, and he, were UP to……during Covid.
However YES man Dross is on deflection manoeuvres as per and is apparently up to High Doh in faux indignation re the SNP and Jason Leitch……. as per his job description which is to deflect attention AWAY from his party at HQ and try to divert our attention upon anyone and anything that includes the SNP or anyone or anything connected to them….. no matter how tenuous the link may be….or fabricated as an actuality…..also called ‘Playing Politics’ and too ‘Gutter Politics’…….
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Two points.
First of all – and leaving to one side the examples of wrong doing, which can never be excused – this is an example of post hoc retrospective interpretation. As some will know I have the misfortune that Jackie Baillie is my MSP (thanks Helensburgh Tories) and the quotes attributed to her in this morning’s Herald are less toe curling and more puke inducing. The most self righteous of MSPs is quoted as saying of Leitch:
“Anyone who has destroyed evidence will have betrayed those affected by the pandemic and deferred justice for the families still reeling from the pandemic.
“It beggars belief that the man who was behind many of the most consequential pandemic decisions in Scotland has destroyed vital evidence. Mr Leitch should have the book thrown at him for his dangerous carelessness.” I know where I would like the book to land!
At the time of the deletions Leitch was wholly engaged in guiding Scotland through an event of which we knew nothing, not helped by the “do the minimum” philosophy of London, who at one point had no plans, no nothing for any sort of lockdown. Does Ms Baillie really think that a subsequent inquiry was on Leitch’s mind at this point. After all when you are up to your arse in crocodiles ……
Second thing is what was he doing using WhatsApp. On its website it describes itself as follows “With private messaging and calling, you can be yourself, speak freely and feel close to the most important people in your life no matter where they are.” It is, to be technical a discontinuous communication app. If you phone someone for a discussion then they have to be in for any discussion to happen. This is not necessary on WhatsApp. It is a discussion app where those involved dont need to all be there at the same time.
Some years ago, I was discussing information freedom with a friend who works with kids in education who are having problems. They said in one case of a little girl (aged 7-9) they suspected the grandfather was up to something, but had no evidence other than circumstantial and their suspicions, so they made some recommendations to the school and backed out. However three or four years later, grampa ended up in jail for sexual abuse of his granddaughter. My friend said information was fine in principle, but had they put this information and suspicions onto a computer system (it actually happened before computers became the norm) making it accessible under freedom of information, the lack of any hard evidence would have been a deterrent, though they were happy to write it up in a file.
The ;esson is that while freedom of information is fine, we have to bear in mind whethrthis leves the source of information comfortable and secure having old posts, written with no thought of folk like Baillie pouring over it for poltical advantage. What are we likely to find? Besides banter and gossip, probably indications of uncertainty and differences of opinion about what is best to do next. Perhaps a few indiscrete comments about other involved in the process. Put very briefly it will often be the kind of thing you’ll hear if you hang about the office coffee lounge, listening to the process of others arriving at opinions to determine which option they might use to address a problem. There might even be confessions that “we shouldn’t have done this”.
Opening these up to the kind of “analysis” (prurience?) Baillie is looking for to secure political advantage is the kind of superficial and highly politicised assassination that Baillie specialises in.
Disgusting
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The daily rags front pages on shop shelves..really attempting to portray ScotGov as corrupt, the irony is absolutely staggering!
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