By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson has gone ahead of the government’s attempt to keep his unredacted WhatsApp messages secret by handing them over directly to the Covid inquiry.
The former prime minister ignored the Cabinet office’s to hold up the process by launching legal action.
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Johnson said he was “not willing to let my material become a test case for others”, given the government’s reservation that handing over Johnson’s files could mean serving ministers are forced to oblige, too.
Up until now, only messages since spring 2021 have been given to the inquiry, because Johnson was told security advisers to permanently turn off a previous phone when its security became compromised.
However, the prime minister who is keen to avoid speculations of a cover uo which could damage his reputation, took the step to demonstrate he has nothing to hide. In a letter to the inquiry’s chair, Heather Hallett, he said he had asked the Cabinet Office to help turn the device back on securely to search “for all relevant material”, which he promised to pass directly to her.
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About two dozen notebooks that were also requested by Lady Hallett had been removed by the Cabinet Office, but Mr Johnson was insistent on having the messages passed on to the inquiry to show complete transparency.
The move will seriously undermine the Cabinet Office’s attempt to keep Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApps under wraps, after it took the unprecedented decision to launch the legal action. A judicial review of Hallett’s powers to demand all evidence she deems potentially relevant to the inquiry will now take place, but legal experts said she was likely to win.
Johnson has said he wants to help the inquiry however possible.
It emerged that she sent him a list of 150 questions on 3 February, including whether he said he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than order a second lockdown, or likened Covid to swine flu.
Johnson had opted for herd immunity during the beginning of the pandemic before succumbing to pressure of authorising three lockdowns.
The lockdowns were controversial and attracted criticism for several quarters, dividing society, with many considering them unnecessary, and others finding them absolutely imperative.
Lockdown critics have long accused world governments of being complicit in a cover up agenda to control the masses, with multiple allegations of wild exaggerations about death rates and the seriousness of the pandemic.
Other matters under investigation include why he missed a number of meetings of the government’s emergency Cobra taskforce and how meetings with newspaper editors in September 2020 affected the decision to delay imposing a second lockdown.
The credibility of lockdowns in the Uk was badly damaged by partygate which saw several ministers and government associates flout social distancing rules, leading to conclusions by sceptics that the virus was not as serious as publicly purported to be.
The Cabinet Office has argued it wants to comb through all documents requested by the Covid inquiry to remove anything that may have national security implications, or that officials deem to be “unambiguously irrelevant”. But the legal case has drawn condemnation from opposition parties and upset among families of the pandemic’s victims.
The call for a covid inquiry has long been overdue, but with the focus being on how well prepared the government was for the pandemic, there are also calls for the entirety of the pandemic including alleged exaggerations to be examined as part of complete transparency.
In the meantime, the former prime minister is looking open and transparent in his decision to co-operate fully with the investigation rather than allow the cabinet drag the matter in court.
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