Necessary to ‘get heavy with police’ over Covid lockdown, Matt Hancock said

Leaked WhatsApp exchanges from then health secretary to top civil servant in 2020 reveal concerns over enforcement of rules

Matt Hancock told Britain's most senior civil servant they would need to get heavy with the police" in order to enforce lockdown rules during the Covid pandemic, leaked messages have revealed.

WhatsApp correspondence from a Daily Telegraph investigation shows how Hancock and Simon Case feared that officers were not doing enough to stop people from breaking the rules in August 2020. At the time, Case was in his last month as Downing Street permanent secretary.