Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to offer unredacted WhatsApp messages from May 2021 on to the Covid inquiry, despite the government’s refusal to do so. The Cabinet Office has initiated a authorized problem against the inquiry’s request for textual content messages from the former PM and officials, claiming that many of the messages usually are not pertinent to the investigation. However, Protected , the head of the inquiry, insists it’s her responsibility to determine relevance.
In a letter to Baroness Hallett, Johnson expressed his understanding of the government’s authorized motion, but acknowledged that he was “perfectly content” to launch messages he had already despatched to the Cabinet Office. He also talked about his want to ship messages courting back to before April 2021, but was knowledgeable that he might no longer access his telephone from that time “safely” as a outcome of safety issues. The phone number had been obtainable on the web for 15 years, elevating security issues.
Messages acquired earlier than this date would doubtless cover discussions in regards to the coronavirus lockdowns implemented in 2020. Johnson has requested help from the Cabinet Office to securely turn on his previous cellphone, so as to “test” the recommendation received from the security companies. He also knowledgeable Baroness Hallett that he not had access to his contemporaneous notebooks, as that they had been handed over to the Cabinet Office. He has asked that they be passed on to the inquiry, or returned to his office so he can present them directly.
The inquiry had beforehand instructed the government to submit messages between Johnson and 40 other ministers and officers through the pandemic by 4pm on Thursday. The Prime Minister acknowledged that he was “more than happy” to give the unredacted materials to the inquiry. The Cabinet Office also possesses communications between ministers and civil servants that do not involve Johnson. On Thursday, it missed the deadline and introduced that it might “with regret” launch a judicial review of the demand, whereas pledging to “continue to co-operate fully with the inquiry”.
The Cabinet Office defended its choice not to hand over certain messages, arguing that lots of the communications were “unambiguously irrelevant” and submitting them to the inquiry would compromise ministers’ privacy and hinder future decision-making. In a letter to the inquiry, the Cabinet Office acknowledged that the demand “represents an unwarranted intrusion into different aspects of the work of government” and in addition an intrusion into the privateness and safety of non-public information of those concerned.
Science minister George Freeman, talking on the BBC’s Question Time, suggested that “courts will most likely take the view” that Baroness Hallett has the best to decide “what evidence she deems relevant”. However, he additionally emphasised the significance of privacy and the need to test the dealing with of personal correspondence. Freeman expressed his hope that the inquiry would respect the privateness of any information not associated to Covid..