Treasury faces backlash over 'tone-deaf' Budget social media of 'leaked ... trends now
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The Treasury today faced backlash over a 'tone-deaf' social media post showcasing the biggest Budget announcements.
Just hours after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled his catalogue of big-ticket moves, his department shared a mocked-up version of a group chat captioned: 'BREAKING NEWS: Spring Budget WhatsApp Files leaked'.
All of the messages were fake texts sent from other parts of Whitehall, including the departments for Education, Transport and Work and Pensions.
It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the bombshell leak of Matt Hancock's personal messages.
The Daily Telegraph was handed a trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApps from the ex-Health Secretary's time in charge during Covid.
The post, made from the official Treasury Twitter account, presents the Government's Spring Budget key messages as a WhatsApp leak in apparent reference to thee bombshell leak of fort Health Secretary Matt Hancock's personal messages
It is not known who approved the ad, but the Treasury is led by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt who unveiled the budget in the Commons today
Texts allegedly show that Mr Hancock rejected calls to test all residents going into English care homes for Covid, and discussed how the pandemic could 'propel' his career.
The catalogue of revelations sparked fury among Brits, with some calling for the former Health Secretary to investigated by police.
But Mr Hancock's team vehemently deny accusations that have come in the wake of the WhatsApp leaks, saying they are one-sided and are missing a huge amount of context.
The Treasury's attempt to capitalize on the controversy to promote Mr Hunt's budget prompted fury on social media.
One Twitter commentator, who claims to be a Labour supporter, said: 'Shining a light on your own parties sleaze isn’t exactly a conventional way of advertising.'
Another added: 'Thank you for demonstrating that the current government is utterly contemptuous of basic standards in public office. You think the Hancock stuff was just a wee joke.'
The ad concludes with a fake message from No10 featuring animated image of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak celebrating the release of the budget.
Text accompanying the post encourages users to share the 'leaked scoop' with their friends and family.
Multiple Twitter uses described the whole ad as 'cringe', 'toe-curling', 'embarrassing' with one asking: 'Where is your dignity?'
Twitter user George Jones added: 'Who signed this off? One of the most tone-deaf things I've seen.'
MailOnline approached The Treasury for comment.
MailOnline has not seen the full WhatsApp exchanges between Mr Hancock and other officials so cannot confirm the context.
The messages were originally leaked by Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who helped Mr Hancock write his book Pandemic Diaries.
Mr Hancock's spokesman has said the WhatsApp exchanges present an 'entirely partial account' and that 'the right place to consider everything about the pandemic objectively is in the public inquiry'.
