Treasury faces backlash over ‘tone-deaf’ Budget social media post that summarizes headline announcements in the form of ‘leaked WhatsApp files’
The Treasury faced backlash today over a “tone-deaf” social media post featuring the biggest budget announcements.
Just hours after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled his big-ticket catalog, his department shared a mocked version of a group chat captioned, “BREAKING NEWS: Spring Budget WhatsApp Files Leaked.”
All the messages were fake texts sent from other parts of Whitehall, including the Education, Transport and Work and Pensions departments.
It was an ironic reference to the massive leak of Matt Hancock’s personal messages.
The Daily Telegraph was handed a treasure trove of over 100,000 WhatsApps from when the ex-health secretary was in charge during Covid.
The post, taken from the Treasury’s official Twitter account, presents the government’s key messages for the spring budget as a WhatsApp leak, apparently referring to the massive leak of Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s personal messages.

It is not known who approved the ad, but the Treasury is headed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who unveiled the budget in the House of Commons today
Texts are said to show Mr Hancock has rejected calls to test all residents going to UK care homes for Covid, discussing how the pandemic could ‘propel’ his career.
The catalog of revelations sparked anger among Britons, with some calling for the former health minister to be investigated by police.
But Mr Hancock’s team vehemently denies the allegations that have come in the wake of the WhatsApp leaks, saying they are one-sided and lack a huge amount of context.
The Treasury’s attempt to capitalize on the controversy to promote Mr Hunt’s budget sparked anger on social media.
A Twitter commentator, claiming to be a Labor supporter, said: “Shining a light on the sleaze of your own parties isn’t exactly conventional advertising.”
Another added: “Thank you for showing the current government has an utter disregard for basic standards in public office. You think that Hancock thing was just a little joke.”
The ad closes with a fake message from No10 featuring an 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.
Several Twitter users described the entire ad as “cringe,” “curl toes,” “shameful,” with one asking, “Where’s your dignity?”
Twitter user George Jones added, “Who signed this? 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 context.
The messages were originally leaked by Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who helped Hancock write his book Pandemic Diaries.
Mr Hancock’s spokesperson has said the WhatsApp exchanges provide a ‘full partial account’ and that ‘the right place to objectively consider everything about the pandemic is the public inquiry’.
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