Crypto News: WhatsApp firehose

For the second time, Matt Hancock's most private moments have been laid bare for all to see. I probably don't need to remind you of the details of the first scandal. This time round, it's his private WhatsApp messages that are on display.

Matt Hancock Photographer: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Isabel Oakeshott, who co-wrote the Pandemic Diaries with Hancock has gone rogue, taken the material he gave her and turned them on him like a kind of WhatsApp firehose.

The public interest today is in The Telegraph's story on Hancock's decision not to give coronavirus tests to every person entering English care homes while he was health secretary. There could well be other such charges because The Telegraph says there's some 2.3 million words of messages.

I swerve between sympathy for the former health secretary and disbelief. He argues that she did not share his perspective on lockdowns. In a statement, a spokesperson for Hancock said the messages were "stolen" and "have been doctored to create a false story." Yet Hancock handed over his innermost thoughts? What was he thinking?

At PMQs this lunchtime, the prime minister said the right place for these charges to be litigated is the official Covid inquiry. Hancock is considering legal action. He is probably also yearning for his simple care-free days in the I'm a Celebrity jungle.

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The stories you need to know about this evening

British vegetable growers are calling for a more reliable workforce, cheaper energy bills and fairer retail negotiations to stem the shortage.
Britain's advertising regulator has banned Lufthansa from using an ad that appears to suggest the German airline is protecting the planet.
MPs have put further pressure on the country's largest banks for offering stingy saving rates to customers despite soaring interest rates.
Prices in UK stores rose at their highest rate since at least 2005 in February.

Really though, the main topic in SW1 today remains the deal struck between the EU and the UK.

Some 48 hours into the life of the Windsor Framework, many agree that the prime minister has the upper hand. Perhaps that was reflected at PMQs, where Keir Starmer chose to focus on the economy and housing instead of needling the PM about rebellious backbenchers and renegade former PMs.

And it's true: The skill with which Sunak has sought to sort Northern Ireland could now be usefully applied to other more leaden bits of the government's agenda. For instance, on housing, this poll done exclusively for Bloomberg News by Deltapoll shows Brits support planning laws being changed to build more homes in disused "brownfield" sites — but not in other areas.

There had been rumors of the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson being ready to pounce on a wounded Sunak, but the suggestion this morning is that the pouncing is postponed. Until when, it's not clear — it's difficult to see a better, more "Boris" issue than if Brexit had been betrayed. Even Johnson's negotiator Lord Frost begrudgingly accepted the deal would "help" Northern Ireland though he criticized his colleagues: "Most of our political class is choosing not to look too closely at any of this because they are tired of the whole problem."

Actually that's exactly what a hardcore brace of Brexiteers are doing — the ERG's lawyers are combing through the deal and will hand down a verdict, and the same is true of the DUP. Their chief whip Sammy Wilson won't make "knee-jerk" decisions according to Kitty Donaldson and Joe Mayes. The hard-line Wilson is still wary of the so-called 'Stormont Brake' which Wilson has dubbed more of a "delaying mechanism" than total protection.

Alex Wickham and Ellen Milligan report that US businesses are poised to invest billions of dollars into Northern Ireland if the Windsor Framework leads to political stability in the region. Here's Bloomberg Quicktake with a rundown of what else the deal means for Northern Ireland.

There's a team-building session for Tory MPs tomorrow and on Friday which No. 10 hopes will help to focus minds on the upcoming tests for the party — the local elections in May, and the general election next year. MPs attending will want a framework, or even a brake, to deal with Keir Starmer's double digit polling lead.

A former Qatari prime minister, whose son Jassim made a £5 billion offer for Manchester United Plc football club less than two weeks ago, has spoken to Bloomberg News. In the interview on "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations" Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani also discusses the art of investing and the prospects for Middle East peace.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg

Get ahead of the curve

Not over yet. Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria's presidential election, handing him the reins of Africa's biggest economy as it confronts a multitude of problems.

Get onboard. How to get a free flight to Hong Kong in a 500,000 airline ticket giveaway.

Could it get any stranger? Netflix is bringing Stranger Things to the Stage in London's West End, reports Sarah Rappaport.

NHS problems. Waiting times for cancer patients in England have risen to a record high, according to a parliamentary report.

Closures. Sainsbury's is planning to close two depots impacting 1,400 roles as Britain's second-largest grocer makes a push into automation.

WFH. The CBI, Britain's biggest business group has swung its weight behind the flexible working revolution.

$4 Billion

Viasat's takeover of Inmarsat to create the world's biggest geostationary satellite company has been provisionally cleared by the UK's antitrust watchdog.

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The Nyanga River at sunset in Nyanga, Gabon Photographer: Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg

Gabon's rainforests are a precious natural resource to fight climate change. But, the trees are worth far more dead than alive. Despite the billions spent worldwide in carbon credits, little has flowed to Gabon or other heavily forested countries as compensation for the service their trees provide. Gabon is ready to change that — or else.

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