Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock tried to bypass Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to have schools closed in December 2020, messages published by the Daily Telegraph suggest.
Ednews reports citing BBC news that in other WhatsApp messages released by the paper, Mr Hancock described teaching unions as "absolute arses".
Sir Gavin replied that they hated work.
The leaked messages are among more than 100,000 sent by ministers and officials during the pandemic, which journalist Isabel Oakeshott passed to the paper.
A vocal critic of coronavirus lockdowns, Ms Oakeshott obtained them while helping Mr Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries. She has said she broke a non-disclosure agreement by releasing the messages because this is "in the public interest".
In a statement, the former health secretary said there was "absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach" because all the material used for his book had been handed to the Covid-19 public inquiry.