The UK government has been ordered to disclose all of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's WhatsApp messages with his staff during the pandemic to the official Covid-19 inquiry. This comes as the government's attempt to prevent the inquiry from accessing the communications on privacy grounds was rejected by High Court judges. As a result, ministers will not be able to filter the messages they submit to the pandemic probe.
The responsibility now falls on the inquiry's chair, a retired judge, to determine the relevance of the disclosed documents to the investigation. This ruling is a significant blow to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who aims to move past the growing public resentment over the UK government's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. Sunak played a key role in Johnson's government during this period and was instrumental in implementing the controversial "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme, which research suggests worsened the pandemic.
However, the inquiry's request for Johnson's WhatsApp messages is complicated by the fact that he claims his communications until May 2021 are on an old, security-locked phone that is switched off. Since the first pandemic lockdown was in March 2020, officials are currently working on retrieving the information.
The government had argued that the panel's authority should be limited and that irrelevant or private conversations should be protected. They brought the case forward with some reluctance, citing the substantial amount of documents they have already provided to the inquiry. In response, the inquiry criticized Sunak's administration for significantly undermining their investigation by withholding the requested messages.
While the government has the option to appeal the decision, Sunak's spokesperson has stated that they plan to comply with the ruling. Johnson, who was also involved in the case, supported the inquiry's position, emphasizing the need for a detailed examination of the government's actions throughout the pandemic, while also seeking arrangements to maintain the confidentiality of the information.
The court dismissed the government's arguments, which claimed that the inquiry's demand was irrational and beyond its powers. Campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK reacted to the ruling by describing the judicial review as a desperate waste of time and money. They called any further attempts to hinder the inquiry's work "utterly shameful."