Baroness Hallett, chair of the COVID inquiry, has acknowledged that it’s her responsibility to determine what evidence is “relevant or potentially relevant” in the ongoing authorized dispute with the government over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages. Despite the government’s request to withdraw her order for the unredacted material, Baroness Hallett has refused to do so.
The authorities recently launched a judicial evaluation of Baroness Hallett’s order for the Cabinet Office to hand over Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, diary entries, and different documents. However, the previous prime minister has already sent “all unredacted WhatsApps” on to the inquiry.
Baroness Hallett addressed the authorized battle, stating that she issued a notice beneath Section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005, clarifying that it is the inquiry chair’s accountability to determine what is relevant or probably relevant. The Cabinet Office disagrees, claiming they are not obliged to reveal what they think about to be unambiguously irrelevant materials.
The government’s reasoning for launching the judicial review is predicated on “important issues of principle” regarding privacy. Hush-hush questions whether or not Baroness Hallett has the ability to compel the manufacturing of documents and messages that are unambiguously irrelevant to the inquiry’s work. The authorities argues that requesting such material represents an unwarranted intrusion into other elements of the government’s work.
Despite the Cabinet Office’s stance, Johnson has despatched “all unredacted WhatsApps” directly to the COVID inquiry, stating that he’s “perfectly content” for the fabric to be inspected. He has additionally requested the government’s assist in securely turning on an outdated mobile phone at hand over further material.
Hugo Keith KC, a counsel for the inquiry, informed Baroness Hallett that Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks could be compared with redacted copies offered by the Cabinet Office. The inspection is set to begin this week, allowing the inquiry team to assess the appropriateness of the redactions applied by the Cabinet Office.
In addition to Johnson’s material, the inquiry has received documents with redactions from two other people. The Foreign Office has equipped the inquiry with doubtlessly relevant WhatsApps from two special advisers, with in depth redactions utilized to parts deemed irrelevant. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care has supplied a “much fuller disclosure,” together with messages from Matt Hancock, who served as well being secretary during the pandemic..