Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to offer unredacted WhatsApp messages from May 2021 directly to the Covid inquiry, regardless of the government’s refusal to take action. The Cabinet Office has initiated a authorized problem towards the inquiry’s request for text messages from the previous PM and officers, claiming that many of the messages aren’t pertinent to the investigation. However, Fast , the head of the inquiry, insists it is her duty to discover out relevance.
In a letter to Baroness Hallett, Johnson expressed his understanding of the government’s legal motion, however stated 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 relationship back to earlier than April 2021, however was informed that he might no longer entry his telephone from that point “safely” because of security issues. The cellphone quantity had been out there on the web for 15 years, raising safety issues.
Messages received before this date would likely cowl discussions about the coronavirus lockdowns implemented in 2020. Johnson has requested assistance from the Cabinet Office to securely turn on his outdated telephone, to have the ability to “test” the recommendation acquired from the safety services. He additionally knowledgeable Baroness Hallett that he now not had entry 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 instantly.
The inquiry had beforehand instructed the federal government to submit messages between Johnson and forty other ministers and officers during the pandemic by 4pm on Thursday. The Prime Minister stated that he was “more than happy” to offer the unredacted material 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, while pledging to “continue to co-operate totally with the inquiry”.
The Cabinet Office defended its decision to not hand over certain messages, arguing that most of the communications had been “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 stated that the demand “represents an unwarranted intrusion into different features of the work of government” and in addition an intrusion into the privateness and protection of personal info of these involved.
Science minister George Freeman, speaking on the BBC’s Question Time, suggested that “courts will most likely take the view” that Baroness Hallett has the right to resolve “what evidence she deems relevant”. However, he also emphasised the importance of privacy and the need to check the dealing with of personal correspondence. Freeman expressed his hope that the inquiry would respect the privateness of any info not associated to Covid..