That the provision of the confidential information was conditional upon her signing the NDA stands to reason. But that doesn’t mean we have a bargain here. Indeed, there is no sense in which the information provider did so in order to obtain Oakeshott’s NDA signature. The provision of information was a gift with a string (NDA signing) attached.

C

 

My much-missed former Oxford Colleague Birke Häcker aske me to write on her behalf:

 

Dear colleagues,

 

It is widely reported that Isabel Oakeshott did not charge Matt Hancock any fee for ghostwriting (or ‘co-authoring’) his ‘Pandemic Diaries’ – interestingly described as her having acted ‘pro bono’.

 

If this is so, then surely the NDA she signed is unenforceable unless contained in a deed? Media law specialists appear to assume that it was under seal, describing it as a “contractual agreement …. enforcible as such” without adverting to the “pro bono” quirk of the particular case: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/02/isabel-oakeshott-matt-hancock-whatsapps-journalist-media-law

 

Does anyone know what the usual conventions are on NDAs? In short, am I missing something – or was Isabel Oakeshott really savvy in arranging the Hancock deal?

 

With best wishes

Birke (Häcker)

 

 

(For myself, much like Captain Renault, I am shocked that Ms Oakeshott would betray a source.

 

I’d have thought Hancock’s provision to her of the valuable confidential information, useful to a political “journalist” even if required to be undisclosed, sufficed as consideration for her promise not to disclose it).

 

Rob